# Longest range ballistic missile to have carried conventional Warhead? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2015, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-range-ballistic-missile-to-have-carried-conventional-warhead/714512 "2015-03-08T06:39:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-range-ballistic-missile-to-have-carried-conventional-warhead/714512/1 "2015-03-08T06:39:05Z")
By “carried”, I mean actually deployed in the field with a warhead. Most longer range (for our purposes more than 500 KM) range missile seem to me to have been deployed only with nuclear warheads (and maybe chemical ones for Iraq/Iran/NK). Conventional warheads seem to only be restricted to shorter range ones, indeed that is one of the reasons why short range missile are problematic in arms control, a short range BM has actual non nuclear/WMD uses while I cannot think of anyone arguing that an ICBM is for conventional strike and being believed. ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-range-ballistic-missile-to-have-carried-conventional-warhead/714512/2 "2015-03-08T07:00:42Z")
Obviously, using a rocket capable of traveling on a flight into space to carry a bomb somewhere is a pretty expensive way to do it. I’ve had the impression that the scheme to use ICBMs for conventional strikes is just a scheme to enrich a few defense contractors. The ability to blow anything up, anywhere, within 40 minutes or so at the touch of a button must be really appealing to generals for some reason. And, if the government pays tens of millions of dollars a missile, it obvious appeals greatly to the companies that build them. It’s of course a horrible idea. The russians and everyone else, if they see a ballistic missile launch, cannot tell from the outside if the missile has a nuke or just a several thousand pound bomb. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/longest-range-ballistic-missile-to-have-carried-conventional-warhead/714512/3 "2015-03-08T16:08:16Z")
Were any ICBM or IRBM ever deployed with conventional warheads?