INTERCONTINENTAL BALLISTIC MISSILES – DEFENCE & SECURITY
News:
North Korea’s New ICBM
Raises Ability to Strike US With Nukes
What's
in the news?
●
North Korea’s newest long-range missile
increases the chances it could deliver a strike to the US mainland, giving Kim
Jong Un more leverage in his dealings with the Biden administration.
Key
takeaways:
●
The Hwasong-18
solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile North Korea launched this
week flew longer than any of its other ICBMS and appeared designed to carry a
multiple nuclear weapons payload, which increases the chances at least one bomb
could slip past interceptors and make its way to a target.
India
and ICBM:
ICBM:
·
An intercontinental ballistic missile
(ICBM) is a missile with a minimum range
of 5,500 km primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery.
·
Conventional, chemical and biological
weapons can also be delivered with varying effectiveness, but have never been
deployed on ICBMs.
·
According to the Federation of American
Scientists, ICBMs have a minimum range of 5,500 kilometres (3,400 miles), with maximum ranges varying from 7,000 to 16,000
kilometres.
·
ICBMs are much faster and have a greater range than other types of ballistic
missiles.
·
Agni-V
is an Indian ICBM with a range of over 5,000
km.
Agni-V:
● Agni-V
is the most advanced surface-to-surface
indigenously built ballistic missile.
● It
is a three-stage, solid fuel 17-metre
tall, and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead of about 1.5 tonnes.
● Agni-V
is a fire and forget missile, which
once fired cannot be stopped, except by an interceptor missile.
● It
has been developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme
(IGMDP).