Talk:Intercontinental ballistic missile

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[edit] V-2 an ICBM?

It is accurate to call the V2 rocket the first ICBM, yes?

I'd say not, since crossing the English channel is hardly "intercontinental". I seem to recall their maximum range was about 100-200km or so? Bryan
I'm pretty sure the range was more like ~300 km - still not an ICBM though. --mav
Gotcha. It is a Ballistic missile and is crosslinked in that article. (apparently could be classified as a "theatre ballistic missile").
The V-2 would be classified as a SRBM (Short Range Ballistic Missile)

[edit] another meaning

ICBM, Inter-Continental Ballistic Messenger, a nice ICQ clone for BeOS.

Only three nations ? What about United Kingdom and France ? The M4 missile has more than 4500 km of range, and M48 and M51 more...


[edit] Pakistan have ICBMS??

I don't think Pakistan has ICBMs (dho 04:59, 22 Dec 2004 (UTC))

[edit] Overloaded article

The technical term ICBM refers only to ground-based intercontinental range ballistic missiles, hence this article contains discussion of many things which don't belong to this topic. Here is a partial list:

  • Sea-based ICBM's - there is no such thing, by definition!! Those missiles are called SLBM's (submarine launched ballistic missiles)
  • Cruise missiles - also does not belong here
  • Submarines - certainly should not be listed here

I would suggest 2 possibilities:

  • 1. Keep article more or less as is, but change the title. Use for example: intercontinental range nuclear weapons systems
  • 2. Move things which don't belong to separate articles.

Balcer 09:58, 20 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Seconded. ICBMs and SLBMs do have a lot in common, so i'd back the option of having a single article for both of them, with smaller articles for the specifics of each type. The Intermediate-range ballistic missile article needs corresponding cleanup, since it sort of overlaps with SLBMs (eg saying that the UK has IRBMs - which can only refer to Trident!). -- Tom Anderson 2007-04-07 21:00 +0100

[edit] Removing Shabab-3

Iran's Shabab-3 MRBM with an 800 mi range[1] definitely does not belong here. I'm removing it. — RVJ 22:25, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] ICBM at sea

Dudtz:missiles launched from subs are considered ICBMs

No, they are SLBMs. --Fastfission 01:27, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

Why are the Ohio class Trident submarines listed and the British Vanguard class Tridents not? The implication that only the US, France, Russia and China have ICBMs is kind of odd. Other than the launch system itself an SLBM is no different than any other ballistic missile and in the British case they use the same vehicle as the Americans. Does France still maintain land based ICBMs? Is this the reason for the differentiation? Gabe 04:04, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

I have added them.--Patrick 13:36, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] The Difference between Hot Launch & Cold Launch

Hot Launch: A basic principle that just involves the Missile firing its boosters. The problem with this Type of Launch is that the Silo Interior is damaged by the tremendous heat generated by the blast.

Cold Launch: Involves the use of an ejection system to launch the Missile out of the Silo where it will fire its boosters upon reaching a small altitude of tens of meters. This Type of Launch causes no damage to the Silo Interior. --Arima 05:39, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

Please add this kind of info at e.g. missile silo and SLBM, including for which missiles hot and for which cold launch is applied.--Patrick 12:27, 15 February 2006 (UTC)
Some info is already in Vertical Launching System.--Patrick 12:31, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Missile protection

The modern ICBMS use different techniques than the ones that were used to protect warheads in the past (heatsink for example). Since there is amention of heatshields, maybe a mention of ablative heatshields would be appropriate? I believe they are used in Minutemen and modern ICBMS. It could also link to the atmospheric re-entry article.

[edit] Add Link

There is an article for "inertial guidance system" in Wikipedia, but there is no link to it in the line (under the History section):
"...von Braun that used liquid propellant and an inertial guidance system."
Thought it would help to link these two up.

[edit] NASA & ICBM's

I think it should be noted in this article that the ICBM and it's cousins are due to the space race. The space race existed to prove that we (or they) could send a missile across the world (with accuracy). I don't have the data to back it up (here) but this a fact that should be pointed out with Von Braun in the history section. Braun was the father of NASA. JoeHenzi 19:12, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

[2] <--- it is noted there JoeHenzi 19:13, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Geo tags

The meta-data tag for geographical locations (latitude and longitude) is often also named "ICBM". This goes back to the early days of the Internet and the joke that if you wanted to fire an ICBM at the object, these would be the coordinates you'd need. [3] Anyone feel like adding a line about that to the article in a more Wikipedian style? — Ashmodai (talk · contribs) 02:47, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

ICBM is also a "funny" back-abbreviation (or whatever you call a backronym that isn't an acronym) for "Intel Chip Based Mac". I don't know what Wikipedia's guidelines say, but shouldn't ambiguous abbreviations be disambigs? Or doesn't this apply here because they have a common origin?--87.162.63.110 15:08, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GPS Section

Is the claim that GPS, mapping, and satellite mapping as a use to increase ballistic missile accuracy verifiable? Sounds like a conspiracy theory. Youknowthatoneguy 08:16, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

No, it is not - GPS was a way to increase the accuracy of SLBM's. http://www.gpsystemsanddevicesinfooutlet.com/gps-systems-information/gps-history.html

one, of many. Many such things had their origin as military systems. Dobbs (talk) 00:45, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Total twaddle about McNamara

I removed the reference to McNamara. It was nonsense. The first Polaris sub, SSBN-598 "George Washington" became operational in November 1960, while Eisenhower was still President.The first launch of a Minuteman took place 1 February 1961, less than two weeks after the Kennedy Administration took office. Rather than initiating Skybolt, McNamara cancelled it 1 December 1961.Mark Lincoln 21:42, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Accuracy?

I was looking for something about how accurate (or not) ICBM's are, and though the article concedes the importance of accuracy, there's no indication about how accurate they are. To what extent are MIRV's, for ex, just an effort to make sure *something* hits the target?

Of course the details I seek may be classified, but does anyone knowledgeable on the subject have anything to add to the article? --Andersonblog (talk) 21:56, 8 January 2008 (UTC)