Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles

What is an Intercontinental ballistic missile?

• An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a long-range ballistic missile system primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery. They are powerful and destructive weapons, capable of travelling vast distances at incredibly high speeds.

• Key features of ICBMs: 
  • Range: Range greater than 5,500 kilometres with maximum ranges varying from 7,000 to 16,000 kilometres.
  • Speed: ICBMs can travel at speeds exceeding 20,000 kilometres per hour.
  • Payload: Typically designed to carry nuclear warheads, though they could potentially be used to deliver other types of weapons, such as chemical or biological weapons. 
  • Deployment: ICBMs can be launched from silos underground, mobile launchers on land, or submarines at sea. 

• Countries having operational ICBMs: Russia, United States, China, France, India,  United Kingdom, Israel and North Korea. 

India’s ICBM: 

• Agni V is India’s solid-fuelled ICBM and has a strike range of 7,000-10,000 km.
• Its next iteration is called Agni VI, which will also have an MIRV feature.
  • Multiple Independently-targetable Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs) permit a missile to deliver multiple nuclear warheads to different targets, in contrast to a traditional missile which carries one warhead.
  • MIRVs missiles confuse anti-ballistic-missile protection systems by releasing multiple warheads, some of which may be dummies, with different targets.