Intercontinental ballistic missile

A Trident II missile is launched from a submarine

An intercontinental ballistic missile (acronym: ICBM) is a missile that can travel so far that it be used from one continent to another.^[1] The United States and the Soviet Union made thousands of them during the Cold War, primarily to deliver nuclear weapons.

An ICBM is guided, which means it can be controlled to hit a target, usually by an inertial guidance system. The missile carries a warhead, which is usually a nuclear weapon but may be also a chemical or biological weapon. It can be launched from a silo in the ground or underwater from a submarine. Some of them can be launched from large ground vehicles.

Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Media

Atlas missile test launch.jpg

An SM-65 Atlas, the first US ICBM, first launched in 1957
Minuteman GT 245 Operational Test Launch - LF-10 Vandenberg Space Force Base CA - 9 Feb 2023.webm

Minuteman III launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, United States of America on 9 February 2023.
R-7 (7A) misil.svg

Primary views of an R-7 Semyorka, the world's first ICBM and satellite launch vehicle
19-03-2012-Parade-rehearsal - Topol-M.jpg

MZKT-79221 Transporter erector launcher carrying missile container during rehearsals for the 2012 Moscow Victory Day Parade.
USAF ICBM and NASA Launch Vehicle Flight Test Successes and Failures (highlighted).png

1965 graph of USAF Atlas and Titan ICBM launches, cumulative by month with failures highlighted (pink), showing how NASA's use of ICBM boosters for Projects Mercury and Gemini (blue) served as a visible demonstration of reliability at a time when failure rates had been substantial.
Icbm-hist-en.png

Deployment history of land-based ICBM, 1959–2014
Испытательный пуск ракеты «Тополь-М» на космодроме Плесецк.webm

Topol-M launch from silo
TridentMissileSystem.png

Schematic view of a submarine-launched Trident II D5 nuclear missile system, capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads up to 8,000 km (5,000 mi)
RS-24 Yars.webm

ICBMs can be deployed from transporter erector launchers (TEL), such as the Russian RS-24_Yars
RS-22.ogv

SS-24 rail-based ICBM launch

References

↑ Wragg, David W. (1973). A Dictionary of Aviation (first ed.). Osprey. p. 162. ISBN 9780850451634.

Other websites

Intercontinental Ballistic Missile -Citizendium

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[1] Wragg, David W. (1973). A Dictionary of Aviation (first ed.). Osprey. p. 162. ISBN 9780850451634.

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