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ICBM
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conventional weapon, Conventional, Chemical weapon, chemical, and Biological agent, biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness, but have never been deployed on ICBMs. Most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRVs), allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, each of which can strike a different target. The Nuclear weapons of the United States, United States, Russia and weapons of mass destruction, Russia, China and weapons of mass destruction, China, France and weapons of mass destruction, France, India and weapons of mass destruction, India, the United Kingdom and weapons of mass destruction, United Kingdom, Nuclear weapons and Israel, Israel, and North Korea and weapons of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
LGM-118 Peacekeeper
The LGM-118 Peacekeeper, originally known as the MX for "Missile, Experimental", was a Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle, MIRV-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) produced and deployed by the United States from 1986 to 2005. The missile could carry up to eleven Mark 21 Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle, reentry vehicles (although treaties limited its actual payload to ten), each armed with a 300-kiloton W87 thermonuclear weapon, warhead. Initial plans called for building and deploying 100 MX ICBMs, but budgetary concerns limited the final procurement; only 50 entered service. Disarmament treaties signed after the Peacekeeper's development led to its withdrawal from service in 2005. Studies on the underlying concept started in the 1960s. The idea was to allow the US to absorb a sneak attack by the USSR with enough warheads surviving to attack the remaining Soviet missile silos. To do so, the missiles had to be highly accurate, be based ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Korea And Weapons Of Mass Destruction
North Korea has a nuclear weapons program, and, as of 2024, is estimated to have an arsenal of approximately 50 nuclear weapons and sufficient production of fissile material for six to seven nuclear weapons per year.Nuclear Weapons: Who Has What at a Glance (updated August 2020) North Korea has also stockpiled a significant quantity of and |
Nuclear Weapons Delivery
Nuclear weapons delivery is the technology and systems used to place a nuclear weapon at the position of detonation, on or near its target. All nine nuclear states have developed some form of medium- to long-range delivery system for their nuclear weapons. Alongside improvement of weapons, their development and deployment played a key role in the nuclear arms race. Strategic nuclear weapons are intended primarily as part of a doctrine of deterrence by threatening large targets, such as cities or military installations. These are generally delivered by some combination of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, sea-based submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and air-based strategic bombers carrying gravity bombs or cruise missiles. The possession of all three is known as a nuclear triad. Tactical nuclear weapons are intended for battlefield usage and/or destroying specific military, communications, or infrastructure targets, and generally have lower yields ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle
A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) is an exoatmospheric ballistic missile payload containing several warheads, each capable of being aimed to hit a different target. The concept is almost invariably associated with intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying thermonuclear warheads, even if not strictly being limited to them. An intermediate case is the multiple reentry vehicle (MRV) missile which carries several warheads which are dispersed but not individually aimed. All nuclear-weapon states except Pakistan and North Korea are currently confirmed to have deployed MIRV missile systems. The first true MIRV design was the Minuteman III, first successfully tested in 1968 and introduced into actual use in 1970. The Minuteman III held three smaller W62 warheads, with yields of about each in place of the single W56 used on the Minuteman II. From 1970 to 1975, the United States would remove approximately 550 earlier versions of the Minuteman ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Weapons Of The United States
The United States was the first country to manufacture nuclear weapons and is the only country to have used them in combat, with the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II against Empire of Japan, Japan. Before and during the Cold War, it conducted 1,054 Nuclear weapons testing, nuclear tests, and tested many nuclear triad, long-range nuclear weapons delivery systems. Between 1940 and 1996, the U.S. federal government spent at least US$ in present-day terms on nuclear weapons, including platforms development (aircraft, rockets and facilities), command and control, maintenance, waste management and administrative costs. It is estimated that the United States produced more than 70,000 nuclear warheads since 1945, more than all other nuclear weapon states combined. Until November 1962, the vast majority of U.S. nuclear tests were above ground. After the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, all testing was relegated undergroun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Counterforce
In nuclear strategy, a counterforce target is one that has a military value, such as a launch silo for intercontinental ballistic missiles, an airbase at which nuclear-armed bombers are stationed, a homeport for ballistic missile submarines, or a command and control installation. The intent of a counterforce strategy (attacking counterforce targets with nuclear weapons) is to conduct a preemptive nuclear strike which has as its aim to disarm an adversary by destroying its nuclear weapons before they can be launched. That would minimize the impact of a retaliatory second strike. However, counterforce attacks are possible in a second strike as well, especially with weapons like UGM-133 Trident II. A counterforce target is distinguished from a countervalue target, which includes an adversary's population, knowledge, economic, or political resources. In short, a counterforce strike is directed against an adversary's military capabilities, while a countervalue strike is directed against ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Intermediate-range Ballistic Missile
An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range between (), categorized between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying ballistic missiles by range is done mostly for convenience. In principle there is little difference between a high-performance IRBM and a low-performance ICBM, because decreasing payload mass can increase the range over the ICBM threshold. The range definition used here is used within the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. History The progenitor for the IRBM was the Aggregate (rocket family)#A4b/A9, A4b rocket, winged for increased range and based on the famous V-2 rocket, V-2, Vergeltung, or "Reprisal", officially called Aggregate series, A4, rocket designed by Wernher von Braun. The V-2 was widely used by Nazi Germany at the end of World War II to bomb English and Belgian cities. The A4b was the prototype for the upper stage of the Aggregate (rock ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballistic Missile
A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are powered only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) typically stay within the Earth's atmosphere, while most larger missiles travel outside the atmosphere. The type of ballistic missile with the greatest range is an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The largest ICBMs are capable of full orbital flight. These missiles are in a distinct category from cruise missiles, which are aerodynamically guided in powered flight and thus restricted to the atmosphere. History One modern pioneer ballistic missile was the A-4, commonly known as the V-2, developed by Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s under the direction of Wernher von Braun. The first successful launch of a V-2 was on October 3, 1942, and it began operation on September 6, 1944, against Paris, followed by an attack on London two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russia And Weapons Of Mass Destruction
The Russian Federation is known to possess or have possessed three types of weapons of mass destruction: nuclear weapons, biological weapons, and chemical weapons. It is one of the five nuclear-weapon states recognized under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and one of the four countries wielding a nuclear triad. Russia possesses a total of 5,459 nuclear warheads as of 2025, the largest confirmed stockpile of nuclear warheads in the world. Russia's deployed missiles (those actually ready to be launched) number about 1,718, also the largest confirmed strategically deployed arsenal in the world as of 2025. The remaining weapons are either in reserve stockpiles, or have been retired and are slated for dismantling. Russia's predecessor state, the Soviet Union, reached a peak stockpile of about 45,000 nuclear warheads in 1986. The number of weapons Russia may possess is currently controlled by the bilateral New START treaty with the United States. Russia and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nuclear Weapons And Israel
Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons. Estimates of Israel's stockpile range between 90 and 400 nuclear warheads, and the country is believed to possess a nuclear triad of delivery options: by F-15 and F-16 fighters, by Dolphin-class submarinesubmarine-launched cruise missile, -launched cruise missiles, and by the Jericho (missile), Jericho series of intermediate to intercontinental ballistic missiles, intercontinental range ballistic missiles. Its first deliverable nuclear weapon is thought to have been completed in late 1966 or early 1967; which would make it the List of states with nuclear weapons, sixth country in the world to have developed them. Israel maintains a policy of deliberate ambiguity, never officially denying nor admitting to having nuclear weapons, instead repeating over the years that "Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East". However, in November 2023, amid the Gaza war, the junior Heritage Minister ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Medium-range Ballistic Missile
A medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) is a type of ballistic missile with medium range (aeronautics), range, this last classification depending on the standards of certain organizations. Within the United States Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense, a medium-range missile is defined by having a maximum range of between . In modern terminology, MRBMs are part of the wider grouping of theatre ballistic missiles, which includes any ballistic missile with a range of less than . Roughly speaking, MRBM covers the ranges over SRBM (tactical) and under IRBM. Specific MRBMs * DF-2 – * DF-16 – * DF-17 – * DF-21 – * SSBS S1 * S2 (missile) * Agni-II – * Agni-P – * Long Range – Anti Ship Missile (India), Long Range – Anti Ship Missile > (Tested on 16 November 2024) * Ashoura (missile), Ashoura – * Emad (missile), Emad – * Fajr-3 (missile), Fajr-3 – (estimation) * Fattah (missile), Fattah – * Ghadr-110 – * Kheibar Shekan – 1400 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
China And Weapons Of Mass Destruction
The People's Republic of China has developed and possesses weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and nuclear weapons. The first of List of nuclear weapons tests of China, China's nuclear weapons tests took place in 1964, and its Test No. 6, first hydrogen bomb test occurred in 1966 at Lop Nur. Tests continued until 1996, when the country signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), but did not Ratification, ratify it. China acceded to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1984 and ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1997. Since 2020, China has been wielding a nuclear triad, alongside List of nuclear triads, three other countries. The number of nuclear warheads in China's arsenal is a state secret. There are varying estimates of the size of China's arsenal. The ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists'' and the Federation of American Scientists estimated in 2025 that China has a stockpile of approximately 600 nuclear warheads, while the United ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
