A land-based ballistic missile -- generally comprised of a rocket booster, one or more reentry vehicles, penetration aids, and, in the case of MIRVed missiles, a post-boost vehicle, or "bus," to deploy the reentry vehicles -- with a range of more than 5,500 kilometers.
a ballistic missile that is capable of traveling from one continent to another
A ballistic missile with a range of 3,400 miles or more. Conventionally, the term ICBM is used only for land-based systems, in order to differentiate them from submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), which can also be intercontinental range.
a land-based missile with a range of more than 3,000 nautical miles.
An intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, is a very long-range (greater than 5,500 km or 3,500 miles) ballistic missile typically designed for nuclear weapons delivery, that is, delivering one or more nuclear warheads. Due to their great range and firepower, in an all-out nuclear war, submarine and land-based ICBMs would carry most of the destructive force, with nuclear-armed bombers the remainder.
