Long-Range Deterrents: Strategic Ballistic Missiles from the R-29 to the Hwasong-17

The R-29 opens the path as the Soviet answer at sea. Designed by the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau, the liquid-fueled original entered service in 1974 with a range of about 7,700 kilometers, and the family grew to seven variants, with the Sineva and Layner versions still aboard Russian Delta IV-class submarines.

China's first-generation DF-4 was a two-stage, liquid-fueled missile deployed from the mid-1970s. At about 5,500 kilometers it was the first Chinese missile able to strike Moscow, and the DF-4A variant carried three warheads of 3.3 to 3.5 megatons.

The DF-5 entered service in 1981 as a silo-launched, liquid-propellant missile with a range estimated between 13,000 and 20,000 kilometers depending on variant. The original carried one warhead, while the later DF-5B and DF-5C carry up to ten independently targetable warheads.

The American Peacekeeper, first developed as the MX missile, served from December 1986 to September 2005. It carried up to ten independently targetable warheads, yet only fifty entered service at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, far short of the two hundred planned.

The DF-31 marks China's move to solid fuel and road mobility. It entered service in 2006 with one thermonuclear warhead and a range of roughly 7,200 to 8,000 kilometers, and the DF-31A variant extended that to about 13,200 kilometers.

France's M51 was first deployed on September 27, 2010, to replace the earlier M45. A three-stage solid-fuel submarine-launched missile, it carries six to ten TN 75 warheads of 110 kilotons each and arms the Triomphant-class submarines of the French Navy.

The Russian RS-24 Yars grew out of the Topol-M design and was modified to carry multiple independently targetable warheads. First tested in May 2007, it entered service with the Strategic Missile Troops in 2010 and can be fired from silos or road-mobile launchers, with a range of roughly 11,000 to 12,000 kilometers.

The Jericho III is the Israeli entry, believed to be based on an upgraded Shavit space launch vehicle and reported to have entered service in 2011. Its range is estimated at roughly 4,800 to 6,500 kilometers, and its details are reported or believed rather than officially confirmed.

The JL-2 gave China its first credible sea-based deterrent. Development began in the mid-1980s and the first at-sea launch came in 2001, while deterrence patrols aboard Type 094 submarines, with up to twelve missiles per boat, began in December 2015.

The DF-41 is a fourth-generation, solid-fueled missile that entered Chinese service in 2017 with an estimated range of 12,000 to 15,000 kilometers. It can be launched from a silo, a road-mobile launcher or a rail-mobile platform, and was shown publicly at the parade of October 1, 2019.

North Korea first tested the Hwasong-15 on November 28, 2017. It was the first North Korean missile assessed as theoretically able to reach the entire mainland United States, with a reported range above 13,000 kilometers, and it has since appeared in parades in 2018, 2020 and 2022.

The Hwasong-17 closes the path as a larger North Korean liquid-fueled missile, first displayed on October 10, 2020, with an estimated range of about 15,000 kilometers. North Korea claimed a successful test on March 24, 2022, while outside analysts pointed to a November 18, 2022 launch as its first fully successful flight.