This paper provides a review of kinetic heating as related to high speed tactical .missiles. The aspects considered are: the design problem; areas in which kinetic heating is important; the prediction of heating in attached and separated flows; measurements on configurations in flight and in wind tunnels; ground simulation of flows over models; and the measurement of kinetic heating. The experience is generally obtained from studies in related areas such as high speed aircraft, reentry vehicles, etc. rather than on tactical missiles since little information appears to be available on this application due to it being a fairly recently confronted problem area. Because of the wide coverage of the field, a generous list of references is provided to guide the reader to papers giving more refined details. Paper presented at AGARD Lecture Series on "Missile Aerodynamics" in Ankara, Rome and Rhode Saint Genese (Belgium), march 1979