The destructive potential of intercontinental ballistic missiles

Intercontinental ballistic missiles are capable of preemptive strikes on a wide range of countries, while preventing the risk of nuclear war.

The Hwasong-14 is Pyongyang's first ICBM.

With the successful test launch of the Hwasong-14 missile on July 4, North Korea became one of the few countries in the world to possess an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), one of the most powerful and difficult-to-intercept weapons in the world, according to Quartz.

Military expert Kyle Mizokami said the basic design of an ICBM is two or three rockets stacked on top of each other, called "booster stages," allowing the warhead to fly farther than a single-stage rocket. Any ballistic missile with a range of over 5,500 kilometers is classified as an ICBM.

To date, only seven countries in the world, including the United States, the Soviet Union/Russia, China, France, Israel, India and North Korea, have successfully developed ICBMs. The reason ICBMs are not popular is that their manufacture is very difficult and complicated, while they are only necessary under certain strategic and political conditions.

A country only needs ICBMs when it has the technology to produce nuclear weapons and has a strategic reason to use them. Equipping ICBMs with conventional warheads will not be effective in combat.

ICBMs are among the most difficult weapons in history to build. Missiles require a huge amount of thrust to overcome gravity and launch heavy objects like nuclear warheads into orbit and reach targets thousands of kilometers away. Controlling this thrust is also very sophisticated, otherwise it will cause the missile to explode.

The large mass of the nuclear warhead and the long flight distance of ICBMs pose more problems than shorter-range missile systems. David Wright,Director of the Global Security ProgramThe Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) in the US said that this forced countries to build rockets that were many times larger and more expensive. "A three-stage rocket capable of carrying a ton of explosives 10,000 km would typically weigh around 80-90 tons," said Mr. Wright.

ICBMs were developed during the Cold War, when the US and the Soviet Union were engaged in an arms race. The proliferation of this terrifying weapon created a completely new approach to conflict between superpowers.

Possessing ICBMs carrying nuclear warheads will maintain the doctrine of "mutually assured destruction" (MAD) for each country. Accordingly, if just one country launches an ICBM, the remaining countries will launch their entire nuclear missile arsenal at the enemy's targets. At that time, ICBMs will become weapons of world destruction. This makes no country dare to initiate a nuclear war, contributing to creating strategic stability around the world.

Number of ICBMs to be launched worldwide under the MAD doctrine. Graphics: Mod DB.

As the Cold War ended, countries continued to maintain the MAD doctrine with ICBMs. In 2011, the US and Russia signed a treaty to limit their ICBM arsenals. But there are also countries like Israel, India and North Korea that have always used nuclear deterrence to prevent conflicts with regional rivals.

Pyongyang’s ICBM development and production capabilities are not lacking, although they are still rudimentary and often fail during testing. Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (JMCNS), said the first US ballistic missile prototype, the Redstone, failed nine of its first 10 tests.

Mr. Lewis asserted that North Korea’s missile program has seen both successes and failures, but its achievements are worthy of respect. In 2000, U.S. intelligence predicted that North Korea could have an ICBM by 2015, but the country postponed a missile test for many years to gain diplomatic leverage. “People often think of North Korea’s technology as being very poor, but statistics show they have a 50% success rate in their test launches,” Mr. Lewis said.

Features of the Hwasong-14 missile. Click on the image to see the full version.

A major challenge with ICBMs is ensuring that the warhead is not damaged during re-entry, which creates intense friction and temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees Celsius, before detonating above the target. South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo said recent test launches did not prove that North Korea had mastered the technology to operate ICBMs.

However, with the successful test launch of the Hwasong-14 missile, North Korea has initially possessed the ability to directly threaten US territory. It will cause many difficulties for Washington's policy of maintaining influence in Asia, while giving Pyongyang a significant diplomatic advantage, in line with the original purpose of the ICBM, expert Mizokami concluded.

According to VNE