Russia’s Firing Of ICBM On Ukraine Is Weapon’s 1st Combat Use In History

Russia reportedly launched an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Ukraine, marking the first combat use of the weapon since its inception almost six decades ago. Moreover, Moscow used the Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRV) technology to target “critical infrastructure” in Ukraine’s Dnipro, the first-ever use of the technology too.

ICBMs have a range of over 5,500 kilometres and are built to carry nuclear, chemical and biological warheads. It can also carry a conventional warhead, which Russia reportedly used on the RS-26 Rubezh, ballistic missile. The missile was launched from the Astrakhan region of Russia, over 1,000 km away from the damage site in Ukraine.

Videos have surfaced on social media and Telegram handles, where at least warheads re-entering and targeting infrastructure in Ukraine. Russia has “denied to comment” on the launch of ICBMs though Kyiv has confirmed its use.

The launch comes just a day after Putin signed off on changes to the nuclear doctrine. The changes in the doctrine say that an attack from a non-nuclear state backed by a nuclear state will be viewed by Russia as a joint attack on it. Recently, the US has allowed Ukraine to use long-range ATACMS missiles to strike deep into Russia.

ICBM And The MIRV Tech

Rubezh is a solid-fueled ICBM equipped with MIRV technology. It was developed in 2011 and was successfully tested for the first time in 2012, hitting a target 5,800 km away from the launch site. 

Solid-fuel missiles do not need to be fuelled immediately after launch and are often easier to operate. It’s a mixture of fuel and an oxidizer that are bound together by a hard rubbery material and packed in a metal casing.

When solid-propellant in RS-26 burns, the oxygen from the fuel element generates enormous energy, creating thrust and helping in lif-off. 

A ballistic missile follows a parabolic trajectory with a boost, mid-course and terminal stage. The highest point where the missile reaches is called apogee and for ICBMs, it is over 4,000 km. During atmospheric re-entry or terminal stage, kinetic energy coupled with the missile’s speed reaches over Mach 10, making interception of the missile difficult. 

ICBMs with MIRV technology, allow multiple targets located at different locations to be engaged from the same missile with several warheads. These warheads could be nuclear or non-nuclear. 

These bombs can target locations that are several hundred kilometres apart with the help of the technology and some MIRVed missiles can even hit targets separated by a distance of 1,500 kilometres.

In Dnipro, at least six bombs or warheads were dropped over the region and anti-ballistic missiles (ABM) have to engage with such weapons separately. Therefore, the ABM systems seek to destroy the missile before the separation of the warhead stage.

The US was the first country to develop MIRV technology, deploying a MIRVed Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) in 1970 and a MIRVed Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) in 1971. The Soviet Union quickly followed suit and by the end of the 1970s had developed their MIRV-enabled ICBM and SLBM technology.

The signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was significant in cooling down tensions between the US and the Soviets during the Cold War. It required the United States and the Soviet Union to eliminate and permanently forswear all of their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometres. This was the first time the two blocs agreed to reduce their nuclear arsenals. 

As a result of the INF Treaty, the United States and the Soviet Union destroyed a total of 2,692 short, medium, and intermediate-range missiles by the treaty’s implementation deadline of June 1, 1991. In 2019, the United States formally withdrew from the treaty, which now ceases to exist.

India’s ICBMs and MIRV Tech

This year, India successfully conducted the first flight test of Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRV) with the Agni-5 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted a successful test of the MIRV technology which was in development for several years, putting India on an elite list of nations that have the capability.

The Agni-5 missile has an operational range of at least 5,000 km that can target cities, the MIRV technology puts many cities within that range under the target, providing a broader safety net and several locations under the missile’s reach. The true range of missiles is always unknown.