An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the laws of orbital mechanics and ballistics. To date, with a long range (greater than 5,500 km or 3,500 miles) typically designed for 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. Several methods have been developed to carry out this task (delivering one or more nuclear warheads A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter; a modern thermonuclear weapon weighing little more than a thousand kilograms can produce an explosion). Due to their great range and firepower, in an all-out nuclear war Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weapons are used. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare is vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage. A major nuclear exchange could have severe long-term effects, primarily from radiation release but also from possible, land-based and submarine-based ballistic missiles A submarine-launched ballistic missile is a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead that can be launched from submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) each of which carries a warhead and allows a single launched missile to strike several targets would carry most of the destructive force, with nuclear-armed bombers Strategic bombers are primarily designed for long-range strike missions with bombs against strategic targets such as supply bases, bridges, factories, shipyards, and cities themselves, in order to damage an enemy's war effort. Examples include the: Avro Lancaster, Heinkel He-111, Junkers Ju 88, B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator, B-29 having the remainder.

ICBMs are differentiated by having greater range and speed than other ballistic missiles: intermediate-range ballistic missiles An intermediate-range ballistic missile is a ballistic missile with a range of 3,000-5,500 km (1,865-3,420 miles), between a medium-range ballistic missile and an intercontinental ballistic missile. Classifying ballistic missiles by range is done mostly for convenience, in principle there is very little difference between a low-performance ICBM (IRBMs), medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs), short-range ballistic missiles A short-range ballistic missile is a ballistic missile with a range of about 1,000 km or less. They are usually capable of carrying nuclear weapons. In potential regional conflicts, these missiles would be used because of the short distances between some countries and their relative low cost and ease of configuration. In modern terminology, SRBMs (SRBMs)—these shorter range ballistic missiles are known collectively as theatre ballistic missiles A theatre ballistic missile is any ballistic missile with a range between 300 and 3,500 km, used against targets "in-theatre". Its range is thus between that of tactical and intercontinental ballistic missiles. The term is a relatively new one, encompassing the former categories of short-range ballistic missile, medium-range ballistic. There is no single, standardized definition of what ranges would be categorized as intercontinental, intermediate, medium, or short.

While the warheads of theater ballistic missiles are often conventional Conventional weapons or conventional arms generally refers to weapons in relatively wide use and which are not weapons of mass destruction, such as nuclear weapons, chemical or biological weapons. Conventional weapons include small arms and light weapons, sea and land mines, as well as bombs, shells, rockets, missiles and cluster munitions, ICBMs have been nearly inseparable from their connection with nuclear warheads. 'Nuclear ICBM' was seen as a redundant term. Strategic planning avoided the concept of a conventionally tipped ICBM, mainly because any ICBM launch threatens many countries and they are expected to react under a worst-case assumption that it is a nuclear attack. This threat of ICBMs to deliver such a lethal blow so rapidly to targets across the globe has resulted in the interesting fact that there has never been any end-to-end test of a nuclear-armed ICBM. However, see also Prompt Global Strike.

With the advent of multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle warhead is a collection of nuclear weapons carried on a single intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) or a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). Using a MIRV warhead, a single launched missile can strike several targets, or fewer targets redundantly. By contrast a unitary warhead is a (MIRVs) in 1970, deployed in Minuteman ICBMs The LGM-30 Minuteman is an American nuclear missile, a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile . As of 2009, it is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States. It is complemented by the sea-launched Trident missile SLBM and by nuclear weapons carried by long-range strategic bombers; see current status of United States nuclear and Poseidon SLBMs,[1] a single missile had the capability of carrying several warheads, each of which could strike a different target.

A-4 (V-2 The V-2 rocket , technical name A4, was a long-range ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Nazi Germany, specifically targeted at Belgium and sites in southeastern England. The rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first human artifact to achieve sub-orbital spaceflight. It) in Peenemünde Peenemünde is a village in the northeast of the German (Western) part of Usedom island. It stands near the mouth(s) of the Peene river (the name translates as Penne-mouth), on the westmost edge of a long sand-spit on the German Baltic coast. The area includes the 1992 Heeresversuchsanstalt Peenemünde, an Anchor Point of the European Route of, Germany

Contents

History

World War II

The development of the world's first practical design for a ICBM, A9/10 The Aggregate series was a set of rocket designs developed in 1933–1945 by a research program of Nazi Germany's army. Its greatest success was the A4, more commonly known as the V-2, intended for use in bombing New York and other American cities, was undertaken in Nazi Germany Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the government of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party , from 1933 to 1945. Third Reich (German: Drittes Reich) denotes the Nazi state as the historical successor to the mediæval Holy Roman Empire (962–1806) and to the modern German Empire (1 by the team of Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun was a German-American rocket scientist, astronautics engineer and space architect, becoming one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Germany and the United States. He was a member of the Nazi party and a commissioned SS officer. Wernher von Braun was said to be the under Projekt Amerika. The ICBM A9/A10 rocket initially was intended to be guided by radio, but was changed to be a piloted craft after the failure of Operation Elster. The second stage of the A9/A10 rocket was tested a few times in January and February 1945. The progenitor of the A9/A10 was the German V-2 rocket The V-2 rocket , technical name A4, was a long range ballistic missile that was developed by the end of the Second World War in Nazi Germany. The rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first human artifact to achieve sub-orbital spaceflight. It was the progenitor of all modern rockets, also designed by von Braun and widely used at the end of World War II Albania · Australia · Austria · Azerbaijan · Belarus · Belgium · Brazil · Bulgaria · Burma · Cambodia · Canada · Ceylon (Sri Lanka) · Channel Islands · China · Czechoslovakia · Denmark · Dutch East Indies · Egypt · Estonia · Finland · France · Germany · Gibraltar · Greece · Greenland · Hong Kong · Hungary · Iceland · to bomb British and Belgian cities. All of these rockets used liquid propellants. Following the war, von Braun and other leading German scientists were secretly transferred to the United States to work directly for the U.S. Army through Operation Paperclip Operation Paperclip was the Office of Strategic Services program used to recruit the scientists of Nazi Germany for employment by the United States in the aftermath of World War II (1939–45). It was executed by the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA), and in the context of the burgeoning Soviet–American Cold War (1945–91), one, developing the IRBMs An intermediate-range ballistic missile is a ballistic missile with a range of 3,000–5,500 km (1,865–3,420 miles), between a medium-range ballistic missile and an intercontinental ballistic missile. Classifying ballistic missiles by range is done mostly for convenience, in principle there is very little difference between a low-performance, ICBMs, and launchers In spaceflight, a launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket used to carry a payload from the Earth's surface into outer space. A launch system includes the launch vehicle, the launch pad and other infrastructure. Usually the payload is an artificial satellite placed into orbit, but some spaceflights are sub-orbital while others enable.

Soviet R-7 Semyorka The R-7 Semyorka was the world's first true intercontinental ballistic missile, deployed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War from 1959 to 1968. To the West it was known by the NATO reporting name SS-6 Sapwood and within the Soviet Union by the GRAU index 8K71. In modified form, it launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, into orbit,.

Cold War

In 1953, the USSR initiated, under the direction of the reactive propulsion A reaction engine is an engine which provides propulsion by expelling reaction mass, in accordance with Newton's third law of motion. This law of motion is most commonly paraphrased as: "For every action force there is an equal, but opposite, reaction force" engineer An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality, safety and cost. The word engineer is derived from Sergey Korolyov Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov , (Russian: Сергей Павлович Королёв Sergej Pavlovič Korolëv; Ukrainian: Сергій Павлович Корольов Sergij Pavlovyč Korol'ov), (January 12 [O.S. December 30, 1906] 1907, Zhytomyr – January 14, 1966, Moscow), was the head Soviet rocket engineer and designer during the Space Race, a program to develop an ICBM. Korolyov had constructed the R-1 The R-1 rocket was a copy of the German V-2 rocket manufactured by the Soviet Union. Even though it was a copy, it was manufactured using Soviet industrial plants and gave the Soviets valuable experience which later enabled the USSR to construct its own much more capable rockets, a copy of the V-2 based on some captured materials, but later developed his own distinct design. This rocket, the R-7 The R-7 Semyorka was the world's first true intercontinental ballistic missile, deployed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War from 1959 to 1968. To the West it was known by the NATO reporting name SS-6 Sapwood and within the Soviet Union by the GRAU index 8K71. In modified form, it launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, into orbit,, was successfully tested in August 1957 becoming the world's first ICBM and, on October 4, 1957, placed the first artificial satellite in space, Sputnik The Sputnik program was a series of robotic spacecraft missions launched by the Soviet Union. The first of these, Sputnik 1, launched the first human-made object to orbit the Earth. That launch took place on October 4, 1957 as part of the International Geophysical Year and demonstrated the viability of using artificial satellites to explore the.

U.S. Peacekeeper The LGM-118A Peacekeeper, initially known as the "MX missile" , was a land-based ICBM deployed by the United States starting in 1986. A total of 50 missiles were deployed missile after silo launch.

In the USA, competition between the U.S. armed services meant that each force developed its own ICBM program. The U.S. initiated ICBM research in 1946 with the MX-774 MX-774 was the United States' first attempt at an intercontinental ballistic missile . In 1946, Consolidated-Vultee was given an Army Air Forces research contract and began design and development of the MX-774, which led to Convair's development of the Atlas ICBM. However, its funding was cancelled and only three partially successful launches in 1948, of an intermediate rocket, were ever conducted. In 1951, the U.S. began a new ICBM program called MX-774 and B-65 (later renamed Atlas). The U.S.' first successful ICBM, the 1.44-megaton Atlas D The SM-65 Atlas was a missile designed by the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division and built by the Convair Division of General Dynamics. Originally designed as an ICBM in the late 1950s, Atlas was the foundation for a family of successful space launch vehicles now built by United Launch Alliance. The Atlas rocket family is today used as a launch, was launched on July 29, 1959, almost two years after the Soviet R-7 flight.[2][3]

Military units with deployed ICBMs would first be fielded in 1959, in both the Soviet Union and the United States. The R-7 and Atlas each required a large launch facility, making them vulnerable to attack, and could not be kept in a ready state. The first US base to host ICBMs was F. E. Warren Air Force Base Francis E. Warren Air Force Base (IATA: FEW, ICAO: KFEW, FAA LID: FEW) is a United States Air Force base located approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Cheyenne, Wyoming, in Wyoming As specified in the designating legislation for the Territory of Wyoming, Wyoming's borders are lines of latitude, 41°N and 45°N, and longitude, 104°3'W and 111°3'W , making the shape of the state a latitude-longitude quadrangle. Wyoming is one of only three states (along with Colorado and Utah) to have borders along only straight latitudinal[4][5]; the base hosts an ICBM and Heritage Museum.

These early ICBMs also formed the basis of many space launch systems. Examples include Atlas, Redstone The Redstone family of rockets consisted of a number of missiles, sounding rockets and expendable launch systems. The first member of the family was the PGM-11 Redstone missile, from which all other members were derived. It was built by the United States Army Ballistic Missile Agency, Titan Titan was a family of U.S. expendable rockets used between 1959 and 2005. A total of 368 rockets of this family were launched, including all the Project Gemini manned flights of the mid-1960s. Titans were part of the American intercontinental ballistic missile deterrent until the late 1980s, and lifted other American military payloads as well as, R-7 The R-7 family is a series of rockets, derived from the Soviet R-7 Semyorka, the world's first ICBM. More R-7 rockets have been launched than any other family of large rockets, and Proton Proton (formal designation: UR-500) is an expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches. The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965 and the launch system is still in use as of 2010, which makes it one of the most successful heavy boosters in the history of spaceflight. All Protons are built at the, which was derived from the earlier ICBMs but never deployed as an ICBM. The Eisenhower administration supported the development of solid-fueled missiles such as the LGM-30 Minuteman The LGM-30 Minuteman is an American nuclear missile, a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile . As of 2009, it is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States. It is complemented by the sea-launched Trident missile SLBM and by nuclear weapons carried by long-range strategic bombers; see current status of United States nuclear, Polaris The Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fuel nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile built during the Cold War by Lockheed Corporation of California for the United States Navy. It was designed to be used as part of the Navy's contribution to the United States arsenal of nuclear weapons, replacing the Regulus cruise missile. Known as a and Skybolt The Douglas GAM-87A Skybolt was an air-launched ballistic missile developed during the late 1950s. The UK joined the program in 1960, intending to use it on their V bomber force. A series of test failures and the development of submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) eventually led to its cancellation in the mid-1960s. The UK had decided to. Modern ICBMs tend to be smaller than their ancestors, due to increased accuracy and smaller and lighter warheads, and use solid fuels, making them less useful as orbital launch vehicles.

The Western view of the deployment of these systems was governed by the strategic theory of Mutual Assured Destruction Mutual assured destruction is a doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. It is based on the theory of deterrence according to which the deployment of strong weapons is essential to threaten the enemy in order. In the 1950s and 1960s, development began on Anti-Ballistic Missile An anti-ballistic missile is a missile designed to counter ballistic missiles (a missile for missile defense). A ballistic missile is used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight trajectory. The term "anti-ballistic missile" describes any antimissile system designed to counter ballistic systems by both the U.S. and USSR; these systems were restricted by the 1972 ABM treaty The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was a treaty between the United States of America and the Soviet Union on the limitation of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas against missile-delivered nuclear weapons. An alternative view is that the Soviet Union did not adhere to MAD theory and indeed planned to fight a war involving intense use of nuclear weapons; their avoidance of the development of anti-missile missile systems actually stemming from economic weakness.

The 1972 SALT The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks refers to two rounds of bilateral talks and corresponding international treaties involving the United States and the Soviet Union - the Cold War superpowers - on the issue of armament control. There were two rounds of talks and agreements: SALT I and SALT II. A subsequent treaty was START treaty froze the number of ICBM launchers of both the USA and the USSR at existing levels, and allowed new submarine-based SLBM A submarine-launched ballistic missile is a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead that can be launched from submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) each of which carries a warhead and allows a single launched missile to strike several targets launchers only if an equal number of land-based ICBM launchers were dismantled. Subsequent talks, called SALT II, were held from 1972 to 1979 and actually reduced the number of nuclear warheads held by the USA and USSR. SALT II was never ratified by the United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators, regardless of population. Senators serve staggered, but its terms were nevertheless honored by both sides until 1986, when the Reagan administration "withdrew" after accusing the USSR of violating the pact.

In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in 1937. He began a career as an actor, first in films and later television, appearing in 52 movie productions and gaining enough success to become a launched the Strategic Defense Initiative The Strategic Defense Initiative was created by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic offense doctrine of mutual assured destruction (MAD). The as well as the MX The LGM-118A Peacekeeper, initially known as the "MX missile" , was a land-based ICBM deployed by the United States starting in 1986. A total of 50 missiles were deployed and Midgetman ICBM programmes.

Post-Cold War

In 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed in the START I treaty to reduce their deployed ICBMs and attributed warheads.

As of 2009[update], all five of the nations with permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council have operational ICBM systems: all have submarine-launched missiles, and Russia, the United States and China also have land-based missiles. In addition, Russia and China have mobile land-based missiles.

India is reported to be developing a new variant of the Agni missile, called the Agni V, which is reported to have a strike range of more than 6,000 km.[6]

It is speculated by some intelligence agencies that North Korea is developing an ICBM;[7] two tests of somewhat different developmental missiles in 1998 and 2006 were not fully successful.[8][9] On April 5, 2009, North Korea launched a missile. They claimed that it was to launch a satellite, but there is no proof to back up that claim.[10]

Most countries in the early stages of developing ICBMs have used liquid propellants, with the known exceptions being the planned South African RSA-4 ICBM and the now in service Israeli Jericho 3.[11]

Flight phases

See also: Missile Defense#Classified by trajectory phase and Depressed trajectory

The following flight phases can be distinguished:

Modern ICBMs

External and cross sectional views of a Trident II D5 nuclear missile system. It is a submarine launched missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads up to 8,000 km. Trident missiles are carried by fourteen active US Navy Ohio class submarines and four Royal Navy Vanguard class submarines.

Modern ICBMs typically carry multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), each of which carries a separate nuclear warhead, allowing a single missile to hit multiple targets. MIRV was an outgrowth of the rapidly shrinking size and weight of modern warheads and the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties which imposed limitations on the number of launch vehicles (SALT I and SALT II). It has also proved to be an "easy answer" to proposed deployments of ABM systems—it is far less expensive to add more warheads to an existing missile system than to build an ABM system capable of shooting down the additional warheads; hence, most ABM system proposals have been judged to be impractical. The first operational ABM systems were deployed in the U.S. during 1970s. Safeguard ABM facility was located in North Dakota and was operational from 1975–1976. The USSR deployed its Galosh ABM system around Moscow in the 1970s, which remains in service. Israel deployed a national ABM system based on the Arrow missile in 1998,[12] but it is mainly designed to intercept shorter-ranged theater ballistic missiles, not ICBMs. The U.S. Alaska-based National missile defense system attained initial operational capability in 2004.[13]

ICBMs can be deployed from TELs such as Topol.

ICBMs can be deployed from multiple platforms:

The last three kinds are mobile and therefore hard to find.

During storage, one of the most important features of the missile is its serviceability. One of the key features of the first computer-controlled ICBM, the Minuteman missile, was that it could quickly and easily use its computer to test itself.

In flight, a booster pushes the warhead and then falls away. Most modern boosters are solid-fueled rocket motors, which can be stored easily for long periods of time. Early missiles used liquid-fueled rocket motors. Many liquid-fueled ICBMs could not be kept fuelled all the time as the cryogenic liquid oxygen boiled off and caused ice formation, and therefore fueling the rocket was necessary before launch. This procedure was a source of significant operational delay, and might allow the missiles to be destroyed by enemy counterparts before they could be used. To resolve this problem the British invented the missile silo that protected the missile from a first strike and also hid fuelling operations underground.

Once the booster falls away, the warhead continues on an unpowered ballistic trajectory, much like an artillery shell or cannon ball. The warhead is encased in a cone-shaped reentry vehicle and is difficult to detect in this phase of flight as there is no rocket exhaust or other emissions to mark its position to defenders. The high speeds of the warheads make them difficult to intercept and allow for little warning striking targets anywhere in the world within minutes.

Many authorities say that missiles also release aluminized balloons, electronic noisemakers, and other items intended to confuse interception devices and radars (see penetration aid).

As the nuclear warhead reenters the Earth's atmosphere its high speed causes friction with the air, leading to a dramatic rise in temperature which would destroy it if it were not shielded in some way. As a result, warhead components are contained within an aluminium honeycomb substructure, sheathed in pyrolytic graphite-epoxy resin composite, with a heat-shield layer on top which is constructed out of 3-Dimensional Quartz Phenolic.

Accuracy is crucial, because doubling the accuracy decreases the needed warhead energy by a factor of four. Accuracy is limited by the accuracy of the navigation system and the available geophysical information.

Strategic missile systems are thought to use custom integrated circuits designed to calculate navigational differential equations thousands to millions of times per second in order to reduce navigational errors caused by calculation alone. These circuits are usually a network of binary addition circuits that continually recalculate the missile's position. The inputs to the navigation circuit are set by a general purpose computer according to a navigational input schedule loaded into the missile before launch.

One particular weapon developed by the Soviet Union (FOBS) had a partial orbital trajectory, and unlike most ICBMs its target could not be deduced from its orbital flight path. It was decommissioned in compliance with arms control agreements, which address the maximum range of ICBMs and prohibit orbital or fractional-orbital weapons.

Low-flying guided cruise missiles are an alternative to ballistic missiles.

Specific missiles

Land-based ICBMs

An editor has expressed a concern that this article lends undue weight to certain ideas relative to the article as a whole. Please help to discuss and resolve the dispute before removing this message. (September 2009)
Testing at the Kwajalein Atoll of the Peacekeeper re-entry vehicles, all eight fired from only one missile. Each line, were its warhead live, represents the potential explosive power of about 375 kilotons of TNT.

Only Russia, the United States and China possess land-based ICBMs.[14]

The U.S. Air Force currently operates 450 ICBMs around three air force bases located primarily in the northern Rocky Mountain states and North Dakota. These are of the LGM-30 Minuteman III ICBM variant only. Peacekeeper missiles were phased out in 2005.[15]

All USAF Minuteman II missiles have been destroyed in accordance with START, and their launch silos have been sealed or sold to the public. To comply with the START II most U.S. multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, or MIRVs, have been eliminated and replaced with single warhead missiles. However, since the abandonment of the START II treaty, the U.S. is said to be considering retaining 800 warheads on 450 missiles.[16]

MIRVed land-based ICBMs are considered destabilizing because they tend to put a premium on striking first. If we assume that each side has 100 missiles, with five warheads each, and further that each side has a 95 percent chance of neutralizing the opponent's missiles in their silos by firing two warheads at each silo, then the side that strikes first can reduce the enemy ICBM force from 100 missiles to about five by firing 40 missiles at the enemy silos and using the remaining 60 for other targets. This first-strike strategy increases the chance of a nuclear war, so the MIRV weapon system was banned under the START II agreement.

The United States Air Force awards two badges for performing duty in a nuclear missile silo or Launch Control Center (LCC). The Missile Badge is presented to enlisted and commissioned maintainers while the Space and Missile Pin is awarded to commissioned Officer operators after completed training and full certification.

See also

Artist's concept of SS-24 deployed on railway.

References

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (March 2009)
  1. ^ "Call it suigenocide". The New York Times. September 13, 1981. http://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/13/books/call-it-suigenocide.html. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  2. ^ Missile Threat: Atlas D
  3. ^ Encyclopedia Astronautica: Atlas
  4. ^ Lockheed Martin Press Release, October 9, 2009
  5. ^ Airmen commemorate 50 years of nation's preeminent ICBM fleet, Air Force Base news, October 7, 2009
  6. ^ Times of India: India plans 6,000-km range Agni-IV missile
  7. ^ Taep'o-dong 2 (TD-2) - North Korea
  8. ^ CNN.com
  9. ^ CNN.com
  10. ^ BBC.co.uk
  11. ^ Astronautix.com
  12. ^ Israeli Arrow ABM System is Operational as War Clouds Darken
  13. ^ MissileThreat.com
  14. ^ Britannica.com
  15. ^ Peacekeeper missile mission ends during ceremony
  16. ^ Nuclear Notebook: U.S. and Soviet/Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles, 1959–2008 Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January/February 2009

External links

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