Imagine a situation where the US has good intelligence that bad guy *insert name here* is positively ABSOLUTELY on the ground at a known location – but there are no assets available to take him down. No UAVs, no cruise missiles, no snipers – but you need to act fast! Why not call out the big guns and send a non-nuclear equipped Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM)? With a huge payload and short flight times, the US could touch anyone it doesn’t like in less than 60 minutes anywhere on the planet. Almost as good as having your own orbital weapons platform!
There are a few catches though…
- Any missile launched that has the range of an ICBM could be mistaken for an actual nuke. This could make a lot of nuclear nations very nervous.
- They are only as good as the intel on the other end, and once fired cannot be recalled and reused. This could result in a very expensive OOPS.
- If used in a conventional war against a defending nation they would be good on paper to cherry-pick targets, but can you imagine a phone call after each launch to say “we promise this isn’t a nuke comin’ at ya!”
- While it may be deemed precise relative to the entire Earth, it is hard to fathom a situation in which using an ICBM would not result in extensive collateral damage. A terrorist camp in the middle of the desert, or perhaps a single ship in the middle of the ocean, but that’s about it.
Other than the threat factor of telling a foreign dictator to watch the skies the next time he delivers a speech somewhere – the use of an ICBM for convention strike missions seems to have no upside. Completely silly right? You better ask the Department of Defense.
Do you think it is a good idea?
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