How do antiship missiles use inertial guidance and terminal homing together?

Antiship missiles utilize a combination of inertial guidance and terminal homing to maximize accuracy while minimizing vulnerability during flight.

Inertial guidance systems use gyroscopes, accelerometers, and computers to continuously calculate the missile's position, velocity, and direction without requiring external signals or electronic emissions. This allows the missile to travel covertly toward the general vicinity of a target without alerting the enemy to its presence.12

Once the missile reaches the target area, it switches to terminal homing—commonly using active radar—to track and engage the ship. By reserving active emissions for the final phase of flight, the missile reduces the window of time during which the target can detect, jam, or deploy decoys against it. This two-stage approach effectively balances the need for stealthy navigation during the long-range cruise phase with the precision required for terminal target acquisition.13