An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a guided ballistic missile with a minimum range of 5,500 kilometres (3,400 mi) primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery. Similarly, conventional, chemical, and biological weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness, but have never been deployed on ICBMs. Most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, each of which can strike a different target.
A submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) is a ballistic missile capable of being launched from submarines. Modern variants usually deliver multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) each of which carries a nuclear warhead and allows a single launched missile to strike several targets. Submarine-launched ballistic missiles operate in a different way from submarine-launched cruise missiles.
The Vanguard class is a class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) in service with the Royal Navy. The class was introduced in 1994 as part of the Trident nuclear programme, and includes four boats: Vanguard, Victorious, Vigilant and Vengeance. They were built between 1986 and 1999 at Barrow-in-Furness by Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, which is now owned by BAE Systems. All four boats are based at HM Naval Base Clyde , 40 km (25 mi) west of Glasgow, Scotland.
A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine capable of deploying submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with nuclear warheads. The United States Navy's hull classification symbols for ballistic missile submarines are SSB and SSBN – the SS denotes submarine, the B denotes ballistic missile, and the N denotes that the submarine is nuclear powered. These submarines became a major weapon system in the Cold War because of their nuclear deterrence capability. They can fire missiles thousands of kilometers from their targets, and acoustic quieting makes them difficult to detect, thus making them a survivable deterrent in the event of a first strike and a key element of the mutual assured destruction policy of nuclear deterrence. Their deployment has been dominated by the United States and the Soviet Union / Russia, with smaller numbers in service with France, the United Kingdom, China, and India.
The Yankee class was a class of Soviet nuclear ballistic missile submarines that was constructed from 1967 onward. 34 units were produced under Project 667A Navaga and Project 667AU Nalim ("burbot"). 24 were built at Severodvinsk for the Northern Fleet while the remaining 10 built in Komsomolsk-na-Amurye for the Pacific Fleet. Two Northern Fleet units were transferred to the Pacific. The lead unit K-137 Leninets, receiving its honorific name 11 April 1970, two and one half years after being commissioned.
The TN 75 is a French-built thermonuclear warhead used on France's M45 SLBM submarine-launched ballistic missiles, carried by the last of the Redoutable class submarines, S616 Inflexible, and by the Triomphant class submarines. The French Navy has 290 TN-75 warheads. It is a miniaturized, hardened and stealthy successor to the TN 71.
The M4 was a French submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) deployed on the nuclear Redoutable-class submarines.
The M45 SLBM is a French Navy submarine-launched ballistic missile
Forty-eight M45 are in commission in the Force océanique stratégique, the submarine nuclear deterrent component of the French Navy.
The missiles, derived from the M4, were produced by Aérospatiale. Initially, an ICBM land-based version was considered, but these plans were discarded in 1996 to favour an all-naval deployment.
The UGM-133A Trident II, or Trident D5 is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, California, and deployed with the American and British navies. It was first deployed in March 1990, and remains in service. The Trident II Strategic Weapons System is an improved SLBM with greater accuracy, payload, and range than the earlier Trident C-4. It is a key element of the U.S. strategic nuclear triad and strengthens U.S. strategic deterrence. The Trident II is considered to be a durable sea-based system capable of engaging many targets. It enhances the U.S. position in strategic arms negotiation with performance and payload flexibility that can accommodate active treaty initiatives. The Trident II's increased payload allows nuclear deterrence to be accomplished with fewer submarines, and its high accuracy – approaching that of land-based missiles – enables it to be used as a first strike weapon.
Le Redoutable was the lead boat of the class of ballistic missile submarines in the French Marine Nationale.
The Strategic Ocean Force has been the synonym of the French Submarine Forces since 1999, which the commandant commands the ensemble related to, along with the squadron of nuclear attack submarine.
A nuclear triad is a three-pronged military force structure that consists of land-launched nuclear missiles, nuclear-missile-armed submarines and strategic aircraft with nuclear bombs and missiles. Specifically, these components are land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and strategic bombers. The purpose of having this three-branched nuclear capability is to significantly reduce the possibility that an enemy could destroy all of a nation's nuclear forces in a first-strike attack. This, in turn, ensures a credible threat of a second strike, and thus increases a nation's nuclear deterrence. The main theory of creating the nuclear triad was to spread the assortment of weapons across various platforms, making military forces more likely to survive an attack and able to respond to a first strike successfully. The military strategy of distributing weapons over the three platforms developed as an answer to countries' concerns when surviving a nuclear strike. This would ensure that nuclear forces could survive a first strike and be deployed in a retaliatory strike, resulting in "mutual assured destruction."
The MR 41 is a French-built thermonuclear warhead to be launched with the M1 and M2 missiles in Redoutable class ballistic missile submarines.
The M20 was a French submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) deployed on the nuclear Redoutable-class submarines from 1977. It was withdrawn from service by 1991.
An anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) is a military quasiballistic missile system designed to hit a warship at sea.
The Novator RK-55 Relief is a Soviet land-based/submarine-launched cruise missile with a nuclear warhead. It was about to enter service in 1987, when such weapons were banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. A version launched from submarine torpedo tubes, the S-10 Granat, has apparently been converted to carry conventional warheads and continues in service to this day. The Russian Federation was reported to have deployed the derivative SS-CX-7/SS-CX-8 systems on February 14, 2017.
The S3 was a French land-based Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile, equipped with a single 1.2-megatonne thermonuclear warhead. In France it is called an SSBS, for Sol-Sol Balistique Stratégique, or Ground-Ground Strategic Ballistic Missile.
In nuclear strategy, a counterforce target is one that has a military value, such as a launch silo for intercontinental ballistic missiles, an airbase at which nuclear-armed bombers are stationed, a homeport for ballistic missile submarines, or a command and control installation.
