Ballistic missile

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Minuteman-III MIRV launch sequence :
1. The missile launches out of its silo by firing its 1st stage boost motor (A).
2. About 60 seconds after launch, the 1st stage drops off and the 2nd stage motor (B) ignites. The missile shroud (E) is ejected.
3. About 120 seconds after launch, the 3rd stage motor (C) ignites and separates from the 2nd stage.
4. About 180 seconds after launch, 3rd stage thrust terminates and the Post-Boost Vehicle (D) separates from the rocket.
5. The Post-Boost Vehicle maneuvers itself and prepares for re-entry vehicle (RV) deployment.
6. The RVs, as well as decoys and chaff, are deployed during backaway.
7. The RVs and chaff re-enter the atmosphere at high speeds and are armed in flight.
8. The nuclear warheads initiate, either as air bursts or ground bursts.

A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. Shorter range ballistic missiles stay within the Earth's atmosphere, while longer range ones are designed to spend some of their flight time above the atmosphere and are thus considered sub-orbital.

Contents

• 1 History
• 2 Flight
• 3 Missile types
• 4 Quasi ballistic missiles
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 Further reading
• 8 External links

History

The first ballistic missile was the A-4,^[1] commonly known as the V-2 rocket, developed by Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s under direction of T.J. Gertner and Wernher von Braun. T.J. built the whole design in his garage when Wernher found this young boy who was starting on his new project the nuke. The first successful launch of a V-2 was on October 3, 1942, and began operation on September 6, 1944, against Paris, followed by an attack on London two days later. By the end of World War II, May 1945, over 3,000 V-2s had been launched.
The R-7 Semyorka was the first ICBM, while the SM-65 Atlas was the first American ICBM.
A total of 30 nations have deployed operational ballistic missiles. Development continues, with around 100 ballistic missile flight tests (not including those of the US) in 2007, mostly by China, Iran and the Russian Federation.^{[citation needed]} In 2010 the US and Russian governments signed a treaty to reduce their inventory of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) over a seven-year period (to 2017) to 1550 units each.^[2]

Side view of Minuteman-III ICBM

Flight

A ballistic missile trajectory consists of three parts: the powered flight portion, the free-flight portion which constitutes most of the flight time, and the re-entry phase where the missile re-enters the Earth's atmosphere.
Ballistic missiles can be launched from fixed sites or mobile launchers, including vehicles (transporter erector launchers, TELs), aircraft, ships and submarines. The powered flight portion can last from a few tens of seconds to several minutes and can consist of multiple rocket stages.
When in space and no more thrust is provided, the missile enters free-flight. In order to cover large distances, ballistic missiles are usually launched into a high sub-orbital spaceflight; for intercontinental missiles the highest altitude (apogee) reached during free-flight is about 1200 km.
The re-entry stage begins at an altitude where atmospheric drag plays a significant part in missile trajectory, and lasts until missile impact.

Missile types

Trident II SLBM launched by ballistic missile submarine.

Ballistic missiles can vary widely in range and use, and are often divided into categories based on range. Various schemes are used by different countries to categorize the ranges of ballistic missiles:

• Tactical ballistic missile: Range between about 150 km and 300 km
  • Battlefield range ballistic missile (BRBM): Range less than 100 km
• Theatre ballistic missile (TBM): Range between 300 km and 3,500 km
  • Short-range ballistic missile (SRBM): Range 1,000 km or less
  • Medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM): Range between 1,000 km and 3,500 km
• Intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) or long-range ballistic missile (LRBM): Range between 3,500 km and 5,500 km
• Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM): Range greater than 5500 km
• Submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM): Launched from ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), all current designs have intercontinental range.

Short- and medium-range missiles are often collectively referred to as theater or tactical ballistic missiles (TBMs). Long- and medium-range ballistic missiles are generally designed to deliver nuclear weapons because their payload is too limited for conventional explosives to be cost-effective (though the U.S. is evaluating the idea of a conventionally armed ICBM for near-instant global air strike capability despite the high costs).
The flight phases are like those for ICBMs, except with no exoatmospheric phase for missiles with ranges less than about 350 km.

Quasi ballistic missiles

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2011)

A quasi ballistic missile (also called a semi ballistic missile) is a category of missile that has a low trajectory and/or is largely ballistic but can perform maneuvers in flight or make unexpected changes in direction and range.^{[citation needed]}
At a lower trajectory than a ballistic missile, a quasi ballistic missile can maintain higher speed, thus allowing its target less time to react to the attack, at the cost of reduced range.
The Russian Iskander is a quasi ballistic missile.^[3] The Russian Iskander-M cruises at hypersonic speed of 2,100–2,600 m/s (Mach 6 - 7) at a height of 50 km. The Iskander-M weighs 4,615 kg carries a warhead of 710 – 800 kg, has a range of 480 km and achieves a CEP of 5 – 7 meters. During flight it can maneuver at different altitudes and trajectories to evade anti-ballistic missiles.^[4][5]
China & Iran have recently developed anti-ship ballistic missile;

 China

• DF-21D

 Iran

• Khalij Fars

Comparable systems

• Hadès
• Nasr
• LORA
• Iskander
• Shahab 2
• Fateh-110
• Shaurya
• MGM-140B/E ATACMS
• Oka
• Prahaar
• Tochka
• Qiam 1

See also

• List of ICBMs
• List of NATO reporting names for ballistic missile submarines
• Cruise missile
• Surface-to-surface missile
• Anti-ballistic missile
• Anti-ballistic missile treaty
• Ballistic missile submarine
• Atmospheric reentry
• Weapons of mass destruction
• Comparison of lift launch systems
• List of weapons
• List of missiles
• List of missiles by nation
• List of currently active missiles of the United States military
• List of orbital launch systems
• List of rocket planes
• List of sounding rockets
• List of unguided rockets
• List of upper stages
• List of artillery#Rockets
• Model rocket
• Intercontinental ballistic missile
• Expendable launch system
• NATO reporting name (has lists of various Soviet missiles)
• North Korea