Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMS)

Missiles with a range greater than 5,500 km that are capable of delivering biological, chemical, conventional, or nuclear payloads. The U.S. Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) program was conceived after World War II as a deterrent against a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union. United States Minuteman missiles, deployed in the early 1960s, were a dramatic improvement over the previous generation of liquid-fueled, remote-controlled, long-range missiles. The three-stage Minutemen were quick-reacting (utilizing an inertial guidance system), dependable, and survivable, and had a range of more than 6,000 miles.

These ground-based Minuteman missiles were dispersed in hardened silos to protect against attack and connected to an underground launch control. Other versions of the ICBM could be launched from ships and submarines. Later versions of the Minuteman missile were equipped with Multiple Independently Targeted Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs), which were capable of delivering multiple nuclear warheads simultaneously to separate targets.

As part of a modernization plan undertaken in 1983, the Strategic Air Command began to deploy Peacekeeper missiles in its silos. The Peacekeeper is a four-stage ICBM with a range of more than 6,000 miles. The Peacekeeper can carry up to 10 warheads that can be directed at separate targets.

To comply with the START II treaty with the Soviet Union, the United States removed MIRVs from all of its Minuteman III missiles. In 2002, the United States began a three-year program to decommission Peacekeeper missiles, the latest step in the reduction of the U.S. nuclear arsenal from 6,000 warheads to between 1,700 and 2,200, pursuant to a verbal agreement between President George W. Bush and Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Twenty-seven countries are believed to possess ICBMs. North Korea is developing the Taepo Dong 2 intercontinental ballistic missile, which could deliver a payload several thousands of miles. Iran has tested the Shahab 3, a long-range missile (with a range of about 1,300 km) based on the Taepo Dong, and is attempting to develop an even longer-range missile.