Tactical ballistic missile

A tactical ballistic missile (TBM), or battlefield range ballistic missile (BRBM), is a ballistic missile designed for short-range battlefield use. Typically, range is less than 1,000 kilometres (620 mi).^[1] Tactical ballistic missiles are usually mobile to ensure survivability and quick deployment, as well as carrying a variety of warheads to target enemy facilities, assembly areas, artillery, and other targets behind the front lines. Warheads can include conventional high explosive, chemical, biological, or nuclear warheads. Typically tactical nuclear weapons are limited in their total yield compared to strategic nuclear weapons.

Design

Tactical ballistic missiles fill the gap between conventional rocket artillery and longer-range short-range ballistic missiles. Tactical missiles can carry heavy payloads deep behind enemy lines in comparison to rockets or gun artillery, while having better mobility and less expense than the more strategic theatre missiles. Additionally, due to their mobility, tactical missiles are better suited to responding to developments on the battlefield.

For many nations, tactical missiles represent the upper limit of their land-based military equipment. They can provide a powerful weapon for a very economical price, and in some cases are sought to help level the playing field against opponents who are superior in other areas of military technology. Currently, tactical ballistic missile technology remains within reach for nations that may face difficulties in obtaining other advanced military technologies.

Ballistic missiles are still difficult to defeat on the battlefield. Newer air defense systems have improved ability to intercept tactical missiles, but still can not reliably protect assets against ballistic missile threats. This allows a moderate force of missiles to threaten a superior enemy by penetrating their air defenses better than with conventional aircraft, while providing a deeper strike than conventional artillery.

Propulsion

An Iskander-M solid-propelled rocket being launched in an 2018 exercise.

Early large rockets and missiles were propelled by liquid-propellant rocket engines, as the first types developed. These were replaced as soon as possible by solid fuel rocket motors. Liquid propellants involve cryogenic (liquid oxygen) or corrosive (nitric acid) oxidisers. These must be loaded before launch, delaying the rocket's time into action. This delay was a problem for large strategic missiles, but especially so for tactical.

Missiles, particularly in the Soviet Union, switched to using storable liquid propellants such as IRFNA, inhibited nitric acid. These were still hazardous to handle, but could be stored pre-loaded in the missile. This also allowed the development of single vehicle transporter erector launchers (TEL), rather than the previous convoy of carriers, launchers, fuel vehicles and service vehicles.

Western missiles adopted solid propellants instead,^[i] which were inherently storable, and later Warsaw Pact missiles followed suit. Tactical missiles are now almost universally solid-fuelled, except for some states using indigenous derivatives of the original Scud platform.

Specific TBMs

	NATO reporting name	Propellant	Range	Introduction	Withdrawal	Origin	Operators
Al-Samoud 2		Liquid	0160 180 km	2001	2003	Iraq
Al-Hussein		Liquid	600–650 km	1987	1991	Iraq
Blue Water		Solid		1960 (first flight)	cancelled 1962	United Kingdom
MGM-140 ATACMS		Solid	0300 300 km	1986	2007 (program terminated, missile remains in service)	United States	Bahrain Greece Taiwan South Korea Turkey United Arab Emirates Romania Ukraine Morocco
MGM-52 Lance		Liquid	0120 120 km	1972	1992	United States	Belgium West Germany Israel Italy Netherlands United Kingdom
PGM-11 Redstone		Liquid	92.5 km-323 km	1958	1964	USA
Precision Strike Missile			>500 km	2023		USA
MGM-18 Lacrosse			19 km	1959	1964	USA
WS-1			0180 60–180 km	≈1990		China
WS-2 / WS-3			0180 70–200 km	≈2004		China
DTI-1			0180 60–180 km			Thailand
Hrim-2			0180 280–500 km			Ukraine
Shaurya		Two-stage solid	700-1900 km	2011		India
Prahaar		Solid	150 km	2011		India
Pragati		Solid	170 km	2013		India
Pranash		Solid	200 km	TBD		India
Pralay		Solid	150-500 km	TBD		India
Ghaznavi (missile)		Solid	0320290–320 km	2004		Pakistan
Nasr/Hatf IX		Solid	007070 km	2013		Pakistan
Abdali/Hatf-II		Solid	0180180 km	2002		Pakistan
Hatf-I		Solid	0100 70 km	1990		Pakistan
Hatf-1A		Solid	0100 100 km	1990		Pakistan
Hatf-1B		Solid	0100 100 km	1990		Pakistan
Sky Spear		Solid	0300 120–300 km	2001		Taiwan
J-600T Yıldırım		Solid	0900 150–900 km	1998		Turkey
TOROS		Solid	0160 100–160 km			Turkey
Bora		Solid	0120 280–700 km	2017		Turkey
T-300 Kasırga			0120 100–120 km			Turkey
R-11 Zemlya	SS-1b Scud-A	Liquid	0700 180 km	1958		Soviet Union
2K1 Mars	FROG-2	Solid	0700 7–18 km			Soviet Union
R-17/R-300 Elbrus	SS-1c Scud-B SS-1d Scud-C SS-1e Scud-D	Liquid	0700 300–700 km	1964		Soviet Union
OTR-21 Tochka	SS-21 Scarab	Solid	0185 70–185 km	1975		Soviet Union	Armenia Azerbaijan Belarus Bulgaria Kazakhstan North Korea Russia Ukraine Syria Yemen Former: Czechoslovakia Czech Republic East Germany Germany Lithuania Poland Slovakia Soviet Union
OTR-23 Oka	SS-23 Spider	Solid	0120 500 km	1979	1987	Soviet Union
2K6 Luna	Frog-3, Frog-5		0050 10–50 km	1960	1982	Soviet Union	Afghanistan Algeria Cuba East Germany Egypt Iraq Libya North Korea Poland Romania Soviet Union Syria Yemen Yugoslavia
9K52 Luna-M	Frog-7		0050 70 km	1964		Soviet Union	Algeria Afghanistan Belarus Egypt Libya North Korea Russia Syria Ukraine Yemen Former Bulgaria Cuba Czechoslovakia East Germany Hungary Iraq Kuwait Lebanon Poland Romania South Yemen Soviet Union Yugoslavia
LORA			0120 400–800 km	2005		Israel	Azerbaijan Morocco
Hwasong-11 (KN-02)		Solid	0160 120–160 km	2008		North Korea	Syria
Hwasong-11A (KN-23)		Solid	450 km^[2]	2018		North Korea
Hwasong-11B (KN-24)		Solid	410 km^[3]	2019		North Korea
Hwasong-11D		Solid	100–300 km	2022		North Korea
KN-25			0160 380 km	2019		North Korea
9K720 Iskander	SS-26 Stone	Solid	0500 400–500 km	2006		Russia
Predator Hawk			0120 300–400km	2016		Israel	Morocco
Hyunmoo-1		Solid	0500 180 km	1977		South Korea
Hyunmoo-2A		Solid	0500 300 km	2006		South Korea
Ure-1		Solid	0500 180 km	2022		South Korea
BRE8 King Dragon/Fire Dragon		Solid	0500 280–300 km	2014?		China
Burkan-1			0800 800 km	2016		Yemen
al-Najm al-Thaqib-1			045 45 km	2015		Yemen
al-Najm al-Thaqib-2			075 75 km	2015		Yemen
Fajr-5		Solid	180 km	1990s		Iran	Syria Yemen Iraq Lebanon
Shahab-1			0350 350 km	1987	~2016	Iran	Syria
Shahab-2		Liquid	500 km	1990	2016	Iran	Syria
Fateh-110		Solid	300 km	2002		Iran	Syria Lebanon
Fateh-313		Solid	500 km	2015		Iran	Syria
Qiam 1		Liquid	800 km	2010		Iran	Yemen
Zelzal-1		Solid	160 km	1990		Iran	Syria
Zelzal-2		Solid	210 km	1998		Iran	Syria Yemen Lebanon
Zelzal-3		Solid	200–250 km	2007		Iran	Syria
Naze'at 6-H		Solid	80–100 km	1980's		Iran
Naze'at 10-H		Solid	100–130 km	1980's		Iran
Jerina-1		Solid^[4]	285-300 km	2017		Serbia
Jerina-2		Liquid	75 km	2017		Serbia

Notes

^ The liquid-fuelled MGM-52 Lance was one exception, remaining in service until the end of the Cold War.

References

^ Davenpot, Kesley. "Worldwide Ballistic Missile Inventories". Arms Control Association. Retrieved 21 May 2025.
^ "KN-23". Missile Threat. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
^ "KN-24". Missile Threat. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
^ "EDePro, Engine Development and Production".

[2] The liquid-fuelled MGM-52 Lance was one exception, remaining in service until the end of the Cold War.

[1] Davenpot, Kesley. "Worldwide Ballistic Missile Inventories". Arms Control Association. Retrieved 21 May 2025.

[3] "KN-23". Missile Threat. Retrieved 12 March 2021.

[4] "KN-24". Missile Threat. Retrieved 12 March 2021.

[5] "EDePro, Engine Development and Production".

[1]

[i]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Types of missile
By platform	Air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) Air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) Air-to-air missile (AAM) Air-to-surface missile (ASM) Ballistic missile Cruise missile Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) Short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) Shoulder-fired missile Standoff missile Submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) Submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCM) Surface-to-air missile (SAM) Surface-to-surface missile (SSM) Tactical ballistic missile (TBM) * Ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM) * Theatre ballistic missile (TBM) * Medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM)
By target type	Anti-ballistic missile (ABM) Anti-radiation missile (ARM) Anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) Anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) Anti-ship missile (AShM) Anti-submarine missile (ASuM) Anti-tank missile (ATGM) Land-attack missile (LAM) Man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS)
By guidance	Unguided Radar guidance Radar altimeter Active radar homing (ARH) Semi-active radar homing (SARH) Passive radar Passive homing Track-via-missile (TVM) Anti-radiation Command guidance Command to line-of-sight (CLOS) Command off line of sight (COLOS) Manual command to line of sight (MCLOS) Semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) Automatic command to line of sight (ACLOS) Pursuit guidance Beam riding (LOSBR) Infrared guidance Laser guidance Wire guidance Satellite guidance Global Positioning System (GPS) GLONASS Inertial guidance Astro-inertial guidance Terrestrial guidance TERCOM DSMAC Automatic target recognition (ATR) Radio guidance TV guidance Contrast seeker Compass Predicted line of sight (PLOS)
Lists	List of military rockets List of missiles List of missiles by country List of anti-ship missiles List of anti-tank missiles List of ICBMs List of surface-to-air missiles
See also: Sounding rocket

Design

Propulsion

Specific TBMs

See also

Notes

References