Ballistic Missiles

A rocket propelled, self-guided type of strategic weapons system that can be used to perpetrate a chemical, biological, or nuclear attack. The operation of a ballistic missile can be compared to shooting a gun: A shotgun shell receives a short and definitive initial powerful force from gunpowder, sending it through the gun's barrel. Likewise, a ballistic missile receives an initial thrust (or force) from a rocket and continues to accelerate as it leaves its launching tube. Although the missile carries its own propellant, it follows a predetermined course that cannot be changed after the missile has burned its fuel.

There are several different types of ballistic missiles. The United States categorizes them by range, which is the maximum measured distance between the missile's launching point and its point of impact. There are four U.S. range classifications: intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which travel more than 5,500 km; intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs,), which travel 3,000 to 5,500 km; medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBMs), which travel 1,000 to 3,000 km; and short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), which travel up to 1,000 km. These specific classifications, however, are not used universally among all countries possessing this brand of weapon.

Further, there are land-based ballistic missiles and sea-launched ballistic missiles. By the early 1990s, the land-based ICBMs outnumbered other missile types in the U.S. arsenal. Long-range missiles were developed around the time of World War II. In the postwar years, focus turned to the development of long-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The advantages of these missiles include accuracy, a relatively low cost, and easy maintenance. Additionally, due to its extremely long range, the ICBM can theoretically hit a target anywhere on earth. Its main disadvantage is its vulnerability to destruction by powerful first-strike weaponry.

A Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) being launched from the Aegis cruiser, the U.S.S. Lake Erie. The launch of this rocket-powered ballistic missile was part of the testing for the Ballistic Missile Defense System under the auspices of the Missile Defense Agency. Ballistic missiles such as this and its predecessors have been a vital component of the U.S. weapons arsenal since the period of the Cold War.

U.S. Navy.

The United States also has an extensive arsenal of sea-launched ballistic missiles, known as SLBMs. These missiles are effective due to their high degree of invulnerability, even to some antisubmarine warfare. This leads some political theorists to believe that SLBMs are an effective form of deterrence against enemy strikes.

Ballistic missile weaponry, particularly the defense of them, has led to much political division and controversy. It had an especially significant role in the technological facet of the Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union from the 1960s to the late 1980s. By the mid 1940s, the United States had no defense against ballistic missile attack. [Page 65]Devices such as radar, however, made tracking and locating missiles possible. In turn, this could lead to the interception and destruction of missiles in flight. These activities were hindered at the time by great difficulty and expense. Two decades later, difficulty was no longer an issue, but expense remained a problem with creating ballistic missile defense. By 1983, this defense became possible and affordable, leading the United States to start the development of an antiballistic defense, the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, popularly known as Star Wars), at the direction of President Ronald Reagan.

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