Intercontinental Ballistic Missile

Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), land-based, fixed, or mobile (on road or rail) rocket-propelled vehicle capable of delivering nuclear warheads on a ballistic trajectory (flight path of the projectile) through space to targets more than 5,500 km (3,417 mi) away.

An ICBM consists of one or more stages of booster rockets and may include a post-boost vehicle carrying two or more warheads. This vehicle, called a multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle, or MIRV, can be manoeuvred to dispense each warhead on a trajectory to attack a separate target. The targets are normally great distances apart, giving the missile a "footprint" of perhaps 150 km by 450 km (93 mi by 280 mi). ICBMs are the ultimate weapons of mass destruction, capable of destroying vast areas and entire cities. The cost of a modern ICBM, such as the American MX missile, is about $30 million (in 1996 prices).