MIRV Warhead

Extracted Attributes

• Type

  Exoatmospheric ballistic missile payload

• Function

  Carries multiple warheads, each independently targetable at different targets

• Key Components

  Missile bus, Multiple warheads, On-board rocket motors, Computerized inertial guidance system

• Strategic Impact

  Altered strategic balance, Reinforced mutual assured destruction, Made defense more costly than offense

• Primary Association

  Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), Thermonuclear warheads

• Distinction from MRV

  Warheads are individually aimed, unlike MRV where they are dispersed but not aimed

• US Minuteman II Warhead

  W56 (single, 1.2 megatons of TNT)

• US Minuteman III Warheads

  W62 (approx. 170 kilotons of TNT), W78, W87

• US Poseidon SLBM Warheads

  Up to 10-14 warheads

• Technological Requirements

  Miniaturized physics package, Lower mass re-entry vehicle

• US Trident I SLBM Warheads

  Up to 8 warheads

• Soviet/Russian R-36 Warheads

  Initially 3, later up to 10

• US Trident II D5 SLBM Warheads

  Up to 8-14 warheads

• Soviet/Russian SS-18 Satan Warheads

  8-10 warheads

• Soviet/Russian SS-19 Stiletto Warheads

  6 warheads

Timeline

• Genesis of ideas for MIRV warheads in the United States. (Source: web_search_results)

  1960-1964

• The Special Projects Office was directed to include the MIRV concept and advanced guidance systems in its B-3 designs. (Source: web_search_results)

  1964-11-00

• The first true MIRV design, the Minuteman III, was successfully tested. (Source: wikipedia)

  1968-00-00

• The Minuteman III, the first true MIRV, was introduced into actual use by the United States. (Source: wikipedia)

  1970-00-00

• The United States replaced approximately 550 earlier versions of the Minuteman ICBMs with the new Minuteman IIIs outfitted with a MIRV payload, increasing their overall effectiveness. (Source: wikipedia)

  1970-1975

• The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty) was signed, severely limiting ABM systems to avoid a massive arms race, largely due to the strategic implications of MIRV technology. (Source: wikipedia)

  1972-00-00

• The Soviet Union responded to MIRV deployment by adding MIRV to their R-36 design, initially with three warheads. (Source: wikipedia)

  1975-00-00

• The United States phased out the use of MIRVs in its ICBMs to comply with the New START treaty. (Source: wikipedia)

  2014-00-00

• The United States finished converting its Minuteman III missiles back to using a single reentry vehicle system, as part of its obligations under the New START treaty. (Source: wikipedia)

  2017-06-00

• Russia used a conventionally-armed MIRV system on the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, described as a new, unstoppable hypersonic missile, to attack the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, marking its first usage in combat. (Source: wikipedia, related_documents)

  2024-11-21

Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle

A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) is an exoatmospheric ballistic missile payload containing several warheads, each capable of being aimed to hit a different target. The concept is almost invariably associated with intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying thermonuclear warheads, even if not strictly being limited to them. An intermediate case is the multiple reentry vehicle (MRV) missile which carries several warheads which are dispersed but not individually aimed. The first true MIRV design was the Minuteman III, first successfully tested in 1968 and introduced into actual use in 1970. The Minuteman III held three smaller W62 warheads, with yields of about 170 kilotons of TNT (710 TJ) each in place of the single 1.2 megatons of TNT (5.0 PJ) W56 used on the Minuteman II. From 1970 to 1975, the United States would remove approximately 550 earlier versions of the Minuteman ICBM in the Strategic Air Command's (SAC) arsenal and replace them with the new Minuteman IIIs outfitted with a MIRV payload, increasing their overall effectiveness. The smaller power of the warheads used (W62, W78 and W87) was offset by increasing the accuracy of the system, allowing it to attack the same hard targets as the larger, less accurate, W56. The MMIII was introduced specifically to address the Soviet construction of an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system around Moscow; MIRV allowed the US to overwhelm any conceivable ABM system without increasing the size of their own missile fleet. The Soviets responded by adding MIRV to their R-36 design, first with three warheads in 1975, and eventually up to ten in later versions. While the United States phased out the use of MIRVs in ICBMs in 2014 to comply with New START, Russia continues to develop new ICBM designs using the technology. The introduction of MIRV led to a major change in the strategic balance. Previously, with one warhead per missile, it was conceivable that one could build a defense that used missiles to attack individual warheads. Any increase in missile fleet by the enemy could be countered by a similar increase in interceptors. With MIRV, a single new enemy missile meant that multiple interceptors would have to be built, meaning that it was much less expensive to increase the attack than the defense. This cost-exchange ratio was so heavily biased towards the attacker that the concept of mutual assured destruction became the leading concept in strategic planning and ABM systems were severely limited in the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to avoid a massive arms race. In June 2017 the United States finished converting its Minuteman III missiles back to using a single reentry vehicle system, as part of its obligations under the New START treaty. On November 21, 2024, Russia used a conventionally-armed MIRV system on the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile to attack the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, marking their first usage in combat.

Web Search Results

• Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle

  A multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) is an exoatmospheric ballistic missile payload containing several warheads, each capable of being aimed to hit a different target. The concept is almost invariably associated with intercontinental ballistic missiles carrying thermonuclear warheads, even if not strictly being limited to them. An intermediate case is the multiple reentry vehicle (MRV) missile which carries several warheads which are dispersed but not individually aimed. [...] Improved warhead designs allow smaller warheads for a given yield, while better electronics and guidance systems allow greater accuracy. As a result, MIRV technology has proven more attractive than MRV for advanced nations. Multiple-warhead missiles require both a miniaturized physics package and a lower mass re-entry vehicle, both of which are highly advanced technologies. As a result, single-warhead missiles are more attractive for nations with less advanced or less productive nuclear [...] In a MIRV, the main rocket motor (or booster "Booster (rocketry)")) pushes a "bus" into a free-flight suborbital ballistic flight path. After the boost phase, the bus maneuvers using small on-board rocket motors and a computerized inertial guidance system. It takes up a ballistic trajectory that will deliver a re-entry vehicle containing a warhead to a target and then releases a warhead on that trajectory. It then maneuvers to a different trajectory, releasing another warhead, and repeats the

• [PDF] The MIRVed Missile: The Technology and its Rationale during the ...

  MIRV is a ‘missile bus’, whose passengers are nuclear bombs. It facilitates a single booster to deliver bombs to different targets. A MIRV increases the capacity of striking because its payload contains several warheads, and each warhead can hit a different target. [...] 107 AIR POWER Journal Vol. 17 No. 3, Monsoon 2022 (July-September) Silky Kaur MIRVs on Minuteman III ICBMs with 3 warheads and Poseidon SLBMs which had more than 10 warheads. The Soviets also started deploying the SS-18 Satan which had 8-10 warheads and SS-19 Stilleto which had 6 warheads. MIRVs can destroy multiple adversary targets. This means that by shooting first, an attacker with MIRVed missiles could eliminate the adversary’s ground-based forces and still be left with a winning situation [...] AIR POWER Journal Vol. 17 No. 3, Monsoon 2022 (July-September) 82 the MIRVed MISSILE: THE TECHNOLOGY AND ITS RATIONALE Fig 4: 2020 US Nuclear Warhead Stockpile Source: US Department of State.20 Table 2: MIRVs Deployment under New START, March 2021 US MIRVs Warheads Deployed Launchers Minuteman III (active) ICBM Up to 1-3 warheads 399/400 Trident II D5 (active) SLBM Up to 8-14 warheads 206 Poseidon (retired) SLBM Up to 10-14 warheads -Trident I (retired) SLBM Up to 8 warheads -Peacekeeper MX

• MIRV | Intercontinental, Ballistic Missiles, Nuclear Warheads

  MIRV, any of several nuclear warheads carried on the front end, or “bus,” of a ballistic missile. Each MIRV allows separately targeted nuclear warheads to be sent on their independent ways after the main propulsion stages of the missile launch have shut down. The warheads can be released from the bus at different speeds and on different trajectories. MIRV technology was first developed by the United States. By the late 20th century both the United States and the Soviet Union had many [...] intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles equipped with MIRVs. [...] Encyclopedia Britannica Encyclopedia Britannica # MIRV Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

• Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs)

  ## Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicles (MIRVs) Exposed MIRV warheads from a Minuteman III missile (Los Alamos National Laboratory) Document one:"MIRV: A BRIEF HISTORY OF MINUTEMAN and MULTIPLE REENTRY VEHICLES" by Daniel Buchonnet, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, February 1976 Released through FOIA request to Defense Department, June 1997 [...] > - MIRV would be used to reduce collateral damage "by matching the yield to > the target." MIRVs could hit point targets, such as a missile base or silo, > so accurately that only a small nuclear warhead would be necessary to achieve > the anticipated destruction. Collateral damage, therefore, would be less > compared to that caused by larger, enormously destructive thermonuclear > warheads. The yield of the Minuteman III MIRV is excised from this document [...] > - MIRV would be used to reduce collateral damage "by matching the yield to > the target." MIRVs could hit point targets, such as a missile base or silo, > so accurately that only a small nuclear warhead would be necessary to achieve > the anticipated destruction. Collateral damage, therefore, would be less > compared to that caused by larger, enormously destructive thermonuclear > warheads. The yield of the Minuteman III MIRV is excised from this document

• Case Study 3 -- The Origin of MIRV

  warheads. Combined with possible improve-ments in guidance systems, MIRVs offer the potential for attacking hard military targets (for example, missile launchers) as well as soft city targets. Faced with continued strategic uncertainties, defense officials directed the Special Projects Office in November 1964 to include the MIRV concept and advanced guidance systems in its B-3 designs, giving the next generation FBM the potential for both a hard-target (descrToed often as 'time urgent') and [...] warhead. The MIRVs - 5 -wou 1 d des troy: - 10 times the number of airfields, soft missile sites, or other soft military targets. - 1.2 to 1.7 times the number of hardened missile silos. (8) If CEPs can approach an eighth of a mile, calculations published by D. Ball, indicate:, that the kill probability of a single 50 KT warhead against a 300 PSI target becomes about 62%, three 50 KT warheads raise the probability to 95%. (9) With improvements in accuracy MIRVs raise the kill probabilities [...] respectively. MIRV technology was developed first in the United States. The genesis of the ideas for MIRV warheads in the United States goes back to the period 1960-1964, and it is these early decisions that one wants first to examine. The process and its successive development is recorded in great detail in several excellent studies: by Greenwood and by Tammen for the MIRV (1), and by Sapolsky for the Poseidon (2). This chapter will only inci-dentally remark on developments in accuracy. One