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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 ...
The Trident missile is a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV). Originally developed by Lockheed Missiles and Space Corporation, the missile is armed with thermonuclear warheads and is launched from nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs).
The missile could carry up to eleven Mark 21 reentry vehicles (although treaties limited its actual payload to ten), each armed with a 300-kiloton W87 warhead. Initial plans called for building and deploying 100 MX ICBMs, but budgetary concerns limited the final procurement; only 50 entered service.
It was able to carry three warheads and was the first Soviet MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle) missile. [4] The later version, the R-36M, also known as RS20, was produced under the GRAU designations 15A14 and 15A18 and was given the NATO reporting name SS-18 Satan .
Exploded diagram of the Mk21 reentry vehicle for the W87 [clarification needed]. The W87 is an American thermonuclear missile warhead formerly deployed on the LGM-118A Peacekeeper ("MX") ICBM. 50 MX missiles were built, each carrying up to 10 W87 warheads in multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV), and were deployed from 1986 to 2005.
In the late 1970s the Trident I (C-4) missile with a range of 7,400 kilometres (4,000 nmi) and eight MIRV warheads was backfitted to 12 of the Poseidon-equipped submarines. [ 23 ] [ 24 ] [ 25 ] The SSBN facilities (primarily a submarine tender and floating dry dock ) of the base at Rota, Spain were disestablished and the Naval Submarine Base ...
[46] [48] In 2011 it was reported that British warheads would receive the new Mk 4A reentry vehicles and some or all of the other upgrades that US W76 warheads were receiving in their W76-1 Life Extension Program. [49] Some reports suggested that British warheads would receive the same arming, fusing and firing system (AF&F) as the US W76-1. [50]
Here is a diagram showing that the diameter of the reentry vehicle is no more than 50.8 cm. [27] [28] The yield of the W62 is publicly believed to be 170 kilotonnes of TNT (710 TJ). [ 2 ] The W56 warhead on Minuteman III's predecessor had a yield of 1.2 megatonnes of TNT (5.0 PJ), [ 29 ] while its successor, the W78, has a yield of 330 to 350 ...