MIRVs from a "Peacekeeper" (formerly called the MX) missile. Difficult to determine how far apart the warheads are from each other, but I'd guess 10 - 20 miles max. Even so, it doesn't tell us the maximum range they're capable of covering.
Posted on 09/28/2006 7:41:37 PM PDT by MindBender26
Need FReeper Help. Without Violating Security, How Far Apart Can MIRVs From Same ICBM Be Targetted?
How big an area can MIRVed warheads from a single ICBM/IRBM be programmed to cover, Are we talking 10 nuc warheads covering one large city?
Or could it be multiple areas such as one missile launch sending 3 warheads to Moscow, 3 to Kiev, 3 to Leningrad, etc. or on the other side, 3 to NYC, 3 to DC and 1 to Boston and 3 to Chicago?
I realize range dispersion would probably be larger than cross-track dispersion, but need a rough answer. It's for a book.
Thanx.
That's so 80s. How about Mecca, Tehran, and Beijing?
>That's so 80s.
I'm so 80s.
>How about Mecca, Tehran, and Beijing?
Works for me, but could the spread go that far?
I dunno what the max range might be, but if it helps, take a look at a few of the Kwajalein time lapses of MIRV reentries. You might be able to scale the max spacing of the warheads if there are any objects to compare to.
"How big an area can MIRVed warheads from a single ICBM/IRBM be programmed to cover, Are we talking 10 nuc warheads covering one large city? "
What about geography? Houston is a big flat dinner plate, San Diego is all hills and valleys
ARTHUR ...What?
SOLDIER You've got two empty halves of coconuts and you're banging them together.
ARTHUR (Scornfully) So? We have ridden since the snows of winter covered this land, through the kingdom of Mercea.
SOLDIER Where did you get the coconuts?
ARTHUR Through ... We found them.
SOLDIER Found them? In Mercea. The coconut's tropical!
ARTHUR What do you mean?
SOLDIER Well, this is a temperate zone.
ARTHUR The swallow may fly south with the sun, or the house martin or the plover seek warmer hot lands in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land.
SOLDIER Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?
ARTHUR Not at all. They could be carried.
SOLDIER What? A swallow carrying a coconut? |
ARTHUR | Why not? | |
SOLDIER | I'll tell you why not ... because a swallow is about eight | inches long and weighs five ounces, and you'd be lucky | to find a coconut under a pound. |
ARTHUR It could grip it by the husk ...
SOLDIER It's not a question of where he grips it, It's a simple matter of weight - ratios ... A five-ounce bird could not hold a a one pound coconut.
ARTHUR Well, it doesn't matter. Go and tell your master that Arthur from the Court of Camelot is here. A Slight pause. Swirling mist. Silence.
SOLDIER Look! To maintain Velocity, a swallow needs to beat its wings four hundred and ninety three times every second. right? ARTHUR (irritated) Please!
SOLDIER Am I right?
ARTHUR I'm not interested.
SECOND SOLDIER (who has loomed up on the battlements) It could be carried by an African swallow!
FIRST SOLDIER Oh yes! An African swallow maybe ... but not a European swallow. that's my point.
SECOND SOLDIER Oh yes, I agree there ...
ARTHUR (losing patience) Will you ask your master if he wants to join the Knights of Camelot?!
FIRST SOLDIER But then of course African swallows are non-migratory.
Don't quote this as gospel, but I seem to recall that the individual MIRV warheads on a Minuteman III could be targeted to cover a radius of up to just under 1000 miles.
The key is that MIRV (as opposed to MRV - Multiple Reentry Vehicles) has an 'I', as in "Independent" - this means that each warhead can follow any arc based upon the incoming trajectory of the ICBM, i.e., if a MIRV'd ICBM is targeted to come down in the general vicinity of Moscow, the expanded MIRV reach would be approximately 1000 miles from Moscow based upon the descending trajectory, meaning that if the ICBM is coming over the North Pole, that the MIRV warheads would have their greatest range SOUTH of Moscow, while their range would be somewhat limited NORTH of Moscow.
It really depends upon the kinds of maneuvers that the MIRVs are capable of. Some MIRV projectiles contain (or contained) only ECM (electronic counter measures) designed to serve as decoys to Soviet anti-ballistic missiles (deployed around Moscow as I recall), and I'm sure there were plenty of other tricks that would have caused a great deal of surprise and grief on the part of Soviet strategic planners had the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. ever had that one ultimate confrontation.
My .02 cents, for whatever it's worth!
MIRVs from a "Peacekeeper" (formerly called the MX) missile. Difficult to determine how far apart the warheads are from each other, but I'd guess 10 - 20 miles max. Even so, it doesn't tell us the maximum range they're capable of covering.
I was stationed at Minot AFB'70 - 73 and worked the Ops Plans vault. We built the combat missions folders for the B-52 wing and as base Top Secret Control Officer I had access to the Minuteman III targeting info.
Timing was the key since different weapons systems were employed! You didn't want a B-52 to take out downtown Pyongyang and as as it exited the target area a Naval Sub launched Poesidon blew it out of the sky because the B-52 was flying over the targeted airbase that's several miles out of town!
Believe it or not there were some of our sorties where the B-52 was targeting a DSG, (designated ground zero) which had been targeted and may have been struck earlier. If the target was a high enough priority it might be targeted more than once and the second nuc just churned up the first weapon's crater!
Now that I've told you all this stuff I'm gonna have to kill you!
I have never looked into this, so I'm working off the top of my head. But I would THINK that it would be easier to spread the warheads out along the line of fire than to turn them very far to one side or another.
In other words, if the missile was traveling east, you might be able to hit a considerable range of targets along a line from west to east, just by diving down earlier or staying in orbit longer. But to get a warhead to head further north or south would require burning a lot more fuel.
That's my educated guess, based on the laws of inertia rather than any first-hand knowledge.
Believe it there was an anti satellite system on Kwajelin in the mid 60s. My brother-in-law was a nuc engineer and was present at the atmospheric tests in the South Pacific. A high altitude test, where the warhead went up to 150 miles altitude and was detonated, knocked out several NASA satellites and NASA was pi$$ed. Soon after there were several Thor missiles with nuc warheads to intercept and "knock out" soviet satellites!!
It was also the basis for the US ABM. It was installed in North Dakota to protect the NoDak bases. I was also the Minot Base Frequency Manager and whenever the Perimeter Acquisition Radar was in use our Aircraft were told to avoid there forward looking radars since they would fry any tube technology systems of that era. I would post specially notices in flight kits so our Bombers and tankers would avoid these areas!
now THAT's a ZOT!
Brilliant post. Just neat.
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