Can ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) be intercepted in mid-air?
by 
Anti-Semantic - Quaerens Intellectum
ANSWERS: 10
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Aye.. indeed. At the boost stage when still over enemy territory is best.
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Yes, they can. However, it is not easy to do, especially as they near their target. Near the end of their flights, they are a smaller target (no booster stages) and generally a faster one as they are on the way down (thank you, gravity). In practice, you want to get them as early as possible, partly because it's easier to hit them and partly because there is *far* less risk of debris/wreckage landing somewhere you *really* don't want it to. Even if the nuclear warhead doesn't explode, which it likely WON'T, there is still radioactive material in there. Destroy the warhead too close to the target and the fallout could be worse than just letting the thing hit it's target.
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Do you want the public answer, or the truth?
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The truth is, "Yes, and getting better, but not quite there yet."
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NO, the only way to hit an enemy missile is while it still sits in its silo! Once they are launched your chances are equal to hitting a bullet in mid air fired from a pistol at you!
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Yes, with a tennis racket
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It has not been perfected 100 percent yet.
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During the Kuwait war the US used a weapon which could destroy missiles in the air.Though it was not a perfect anti weapon they were able to understand the working in a war zone. An ICBM has not been stopped so far. These anti-missiles were called Patriot system! I hope someday there would be a system to disable a nuclear tipped missile before launch!
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yes but its hard you would almost never be able to hit it but an explosion near it would either blow it up, disable it, or disrupt its path. oooorr you could detonate an EMP near it guarenteeing its disabling.
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Boost phase intercept requires that a sea born anti-missile be within 100 N-Miles of the launch site or that a laser mounted on a 747 be within 300 or 350 miles at over 60,000 ft, and a clear line of sight. CO2 infrared, with a massive fiber optic adaptive optic system powered by 2 turbofans running generators equal to the the ones on the wings.
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