Why aren't ICBMs (and missiles in general) built using stealth technology?
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There's not need for that. They are stealthy enough as it is. It is already very difficult to spot an ICBM launch. You need pretty advanced radar systems to begin with. But that is just the start.
A missile doesn't need escape velocity which is 11 km/sec or 40,000 km/hour. But it still flies much faster than airplanes at 13.000 km/hr. Again, you need very good radar equipment to track something that fast and (probably) that far away. (thanks for the correction, @gdir)
The missile will loose its boosters in flight, and once in reach of the target(s) dumps its payload. The number of MIRV's varies per missile/type/country, but there is no obligation to load bombs only. They can easily add a few dummies, and some additional clutter to confuse radar systems.
Upvote:0
I believe some missiles - some cruise missiles to be more specific - are designed with stealth features.
Upvote:14
Stealthy ICBMs are pointless
Making the missiles radar-stealthy isn't useful, for quite a lot of reasons:The curvature of the earth puts all current ICBM launch sites well below the radar horizons of other countries.
Over-the-horizon radars use long wavelengths, long enough that shaping the missile for stealth doesn't do any good, because it's much smaller than the wavelengths you need to be stealthy against.
For the above reasons, early-warning systems that are intended to detect missile launches all use satellites with infra-red sensors. An ICBM is a rocket, and cannot avoid having a hot exhaust plume.
Stealthy ICBM warheads are somewhat useful
After the rocket stages of an ICBM have burned out, the warheads and decoys are released into slightly different trajectories, heading for their various targets.Making the warheads radar- and infra-red stealthy makes detecting them harder, and thus attacking them with counter-missiles or (someday) directed-energy weapons harder. This makes them safer during their flight above the atmosphere.
The French TN 75 warhead is apparently stealthy. It was developed more recently than the known US and Russian warheads.
A stealthy warhead is attractive to a country like France, with access to high technology, but a small inventory of warheads, because their expected target is Moscow, and Moscow has a missile defense system.
The US has lots of warheads, and may find it simpler to saturate Moscow's defenses than to build special warheads for the job. Or it may have built stealthy warheads without telling anyone.
Once a warhead re-enters the atmosphere, it can't be effectively stealthy because the extremely hot gas surrounding it is very conspicuous to infra-red detection and is easily detected with radar. However, there's very little time left for interception before the warhead detonates.
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