Correlation-extremal navigation and guidance systems are widely used in controlling the moving objects. The paper considers the aircraft correlation-extreme navigation algorithm designed for the aviation complexes. This algorithm provides radio identification and guidance for long-range detection of the enemy objects, as well as guidance of the destruction and interception weaponry against it. Classification of methods of the correlation-extreme navigation is presented, and each of the methods is being considered separately. Using the example of an airfield identified from the air, the error between the current and the reference images is determined as the distance between two points in the original image pixel coordinate system. When moving, the object image could be distorted by geometric, luminance and noise transformations. Using the found image, error dependencies on alterations in brightness, rotation angle and noise level of the image fragment, as well as the error dependencies on the selected navigation element, are investigated. Results are presented in the form of graphs. It is shown that the phase correlation method is more resistant to brightness and noise distortions of the image fragment, and the gradient correlation method is more resistant to the geometric transformations. It was found that navigation of heterogeneous and diverse navigation elements (cities) is better than the monotonous and homogeneous ones (roads and forests).