Nuclear Ballistic Missiles

Latest in Nuclear Ballistic Missiles

A detail model has provided what’s likely our best idea of how the U.K. Royal Navy’s new Dreadnought class nuclear ballistic submarine, or SSBN will appear. The four Dreadnought ‘bombers’ represent one of the most important U.K. defense programs for many years and it’s notable to see how many advanced features the design includes, as the Royal Navy seeks to find the optimum balance between speed, stealth, and firepower. The four new SSBNs will replace the Vanguard class that entered service in the 1990s.
Sea

Our Best Look Yet At Britain’s New Dreadnought Class Ballistic Missile Submarine Design

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Jan 31, 2025

Russian President Vladimir Putin has raised the possibility of forward deploying new conventionally-armed Oreshnik missiles capable of carrying multiple warheads in neighboring Belarus in the latter half of next year.
Land

Experimental Ballistic Missile Russia Used On Ukraine Could Be Headed To Belarus

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Dec 6, 2024

While it has turned out that the RS-26-based Oreshnik that Russia fired at Ukraine was not a conventionally-armed ICBM, it still highlights the very real interest in, if not more active development and even potential fielding of, a weapon of that kind globally.
Land

Conventionally Armed ICBM Concept Highlighted By Unprecedented Russian Missile Attack On Ukraine

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Nov 22, 2024

A RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile vehicle during the rehearsals for the Victory Day Military Parade at the polygon, on April 18, 2022 in Alabino, outside of Moscow, Russia. About 12,000 soldiers and officers are expected to take pat at the Red Square Victory Day Military Parade, planned on May 9.
Land

The Story Of Russia’s Secretive RS-26 Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Nov 22, 2024

Russian President Vladimir Putin says his country's forces fired a previously unknown medium-range hypersonic missile called Oreshnik at Ukraine earlier today.
Land

Russia’s Experimental Ballistic Missile Used To Strike Ukraine Is Based On The RS-26 Rubezh

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Nov 21, 2024

Ukraine claims Russia fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at the city of Dmipro.
News & Features

Russia’s Unprecedented Ballistic Missile Attack On Ukraine: What We Know

By Howard Altman, Thomas Newdick

Posted on Nov 21, 2024

The U.S. military has not seen demonstrable evidence of North Korea successfully testing a re-entry vehicle capable of bringing a nuclear warhead back down to Earth through the atmosphere, according to America's top officer in the Pacific region.
Nuclear

ICBM Reentry Vehicle Capability Still Unproven By North Korea, U.S. Military Says

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Nov 20, 2024

North Korea has tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that it claims is its longest-ranged so far. The announcement of the test of the Hwasong-19 comes amid large-scale U.S.-South Korean military maneuvers during which their aircraft have bombed mock-ups of North Korean ballistic missile launchers.
Around The Globe

North Korea’s New ICBM May Have Biggest Transporter-Erector-Launcher We’ve Ever Seen

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Nov 1, 2024

Recreation of early nuclear age plutonium pit
Nuclear

First Plutonium Pit For Nuclear Warhead Produced In The U.S. In 35 Years Is Now “Weapon-Ready”

By Howard Altman

Posted on Oct 4, 2024

For the first time in more than four decades, China has fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) out in the Western Pacific, ostensibly for training purposes.
Nuclear

First Chinese ICBM Test Into The Pacific In Decades Is A Big Deal (Updated)

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Sep 25, 2024

India has reportedly introduced to service its second nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, or SSBN, INS Arighat, marking a significant development in the country’s burgeoning strategic nuclear capability. The new submarine, armed with indigenously developed ballistic missiles, is understood to incorporate improvements over its predecessor, although India’s SSBN fleet, and its nuclear forces in general, continue to be hugely outstripped by those of China, its main strategic rival.
Nuclear

India’s Improved Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarine Enters Service

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Aug 29, 2024

The ballooning cost of the US Air Force's Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile program is one of the drivers behind uncertainly over the future of its sixth-generation combat jet effort, which could evolve into a fully uncrewed platform.
Air

Next Generation Air Dominance Fighter Uncertainty Tied To Sentinel ICBM Woes

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jul 24, 2024

The first weapon-ready plutonium pit for the future W81-! nuclear warhead has been produced.
Air

Problem Plagued Sentinel ICBM Program Will Press Ahead Despite Nearly Doubling In Cost

By Joseph Trevithick

Posted on Jul 8, 2024

North Korea says it has successfully tested a ballistic missile fitted with a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) payload — one that contains several warheads, each capable of hitting a different target. Meanwhile, South Korea claims that the test was a failure. Whether successful or not, the emergence of MIRV technologies is another indicator of North Korea’s rapidly developing strategic arsenal, which is growing in size and capabilities despite sanctions.
News & Features

Conflicting Claims Surround North Korea’s Test Of Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle

By Thomas Newdick

Posted on Jun 27, 2024

ERCS doomsday satellite of the Cold War
Nuclear

America’s Cold War Doomsday Satellite

By Tyler Rogoway

Posted on Jun 4, 2024

STRAIT OF SAN JUAN DE FUCA, Wash. (May 6, 2024) The Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Nebraska (SSBN 739) transits the Strait of San Juan de Fuca escorted by U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft and U.S. Coast Guard screening escort vessels. Joint operations, such as this one which involved the Air Force, Coast Guard, and Navy, ensure the U.S. military is ready to meet its security commitments at home and abroad including commitments to our allies and partners. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Gwendelyn Ohrazda/Released)
News & Features

A-10 Warthogs Escorting A Ballistic Missile Submarine Is Certainly Different

By Oliver Parken

Posted on May 9, 2024