Stop the Kim: ICBMs and kill vehicles

[sevenperforce]

In honor of the Missile Defense Agency's successful kill of a simulated high-velocity ICBM launch, I thought I'd throw together a unique challenge.

We KSP players have a special appreciation for just how difficult it is to hit a suborbital rocket with another suborbital rocket. For this challenge, try building the components to test an ICBM interceptor defense system!

• Level 1: Build a multistage ICBM that crosses 70 km, re-enters, and strikes a defined target.
• Level 2: Using HyperEdit or a mobile launcher, build and launch an ICBM to hit Kerbal Space Center.
• Level 3: Design and demonstrate a kill vehicle capable of intercepting the ICBM before it hits Kerbal Space Center.
• Level 4: Design and demonstrate a four-stage solid-fueled interceptor with RCS-based guidance on the fourth stage, capable of intercepting an ICBM above the atmosphere.

Good luck!

EDIT: If you want to reach Level 3 or Level 4 but don't want to spend time on Level 2 (or don't have HyperEdit), you can substitute by placing your target in orbit and then burning retrograde so you hit it when it's suborbital.

EDIT 2: Stock KSP has no good high-velocity heat shields, so it's fine to turn on "Ignore Max Temperature" in the cheats menu if you need to.

Edited May 31, 2017 by sevenperforce

[Gh0stReaper]

Hmm. Very Tempting. Ah screw it I'm doing it anyways.

Also could we get bonus points for underwater launches?

[sevenperforce]

33 minutes ago, Gh0stReaper said:

Hmm. Very Tempting. Ah screw it I'm doing it anyways.

Also could we get bonus points for underwater launches?

Yes! Once we have submissions, I'll create a leaderboard, and I'll be ranking submissions within each level based on difficulty. If you make your vehicle identical to an actual launch vehicle or if you can do something crazy like a sub launch, that'll put you on top in your level!

[Combatsmithen]

1 hour ago, sevenperforce said:

In honor of the Missile Defense Agency's successful kill of a simulated high-velocity ICBM launch, I thought I'd throw together a unique challenge.

We KSP players have a special appreciation for just how difficult it is to hit a suborbital rocket with another suborbital rocket. For this challenge, try building the components to test an ICBM interceptor defense system!

• Level 1: Build a multistage ICBM that crosses 70 km, re-enters, and strikes a defined target.
• Level 2: Using HyperEdit or a mobile launcher, build and launch an ICBM to hit Kerbal Space Center.
• Level 3: Design and demonstrate a kill vehicle capable of intercepting the ICBM before it hits Kerbal Space Center.
• Level 4: Design and demonstrate a four-stage solid-fueled interceptor with RCS-based guidance on the fourth stage, capable of intercepting an ICBM above the atmosphere.

Good luck!

EDIT: If you want to reach Level 3 or Level 4 but don't want to spend time on Level 2 (or don't have HyperEdit), you can substitute by placing your target in orbit and then burning retrograde so you hit it when it's suborbital.

Where does the mobile ICBM have to launch from? A good place I think is on that little peninsula on the east coast of the desert

[DMSP]

In Levels 3 and 4 does the ICBM have to actually be hit by the defense system? Or could a proximity explosive device be acceptable (range of 30 meters or so).

[sevenperforce]

8 minutes ago, Combatsmithen said:

Where does the mobile ICBM have to launch from? A good place I think is on that little peninsula on the east coast of the desert

You can launch from anywhere you want; it just has to cross 70 km and re-enter. But launching from farther away, or from a higher latitude, will get you bonus points.

5 minutes ago, DMSP said:

In Levels 3 and 4 does the ICBM have to actually be hit by the defense system? Or could a proximity explosive device be acceptable (range of 30 meters or so).

I'll accept proximity interceptors for Level 3, but the point of Level 4 is to match the GMD system used by the Pentagon, so it needs to be a kinetic kill.

If your level-3 proximity interceptors don't actually kill the ICBM you can still get points for trying (or for demonstrating that a payload the same size as yours could have rendered a nuclear device inert).

Also note additional edits above.

[Combatsmithen]

How would we intercept an ICBM without the ICBM despawning?

Edited May 31, 2017 by Combatsmithen

[sevenperforce]

1 minute ago, Combatsmithen said:

How would we intercept an ICBM without the ICBM despawning?

The ICBM is suborbital so it needs to be intercepted outside of the atmosphere. Or you can use a persistence mod if you want to do the interception inside the atmosphere.

This makes it more tricky (but also a lot closer to the real thing).

[Combatsmithen]

16 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

The ICBM is suborbital so it needs to be intercepted outside of the atmosphere. Or you can use a persistence mod if you want to do the interception inside the atmosphere.

This makes it more tricky (but also a lot closer to the real thing).

ah ok.

[Gh0stReaper]

Also does the ICBM have to be multistage?

[Combatsmithen]

9 minutes ago, Gh0stReaper said:

Also does the ICBM have to be multistage?

It says so

[sevenperforce]

56 minutes ago, Gh0stReaper said:

Also does the ICBM have to be multistage?

Yes, but I'll interpret that loosely.

[Foehammer]

I'd love to participate, but this is way out of my skillfield.

 

Also, I wonder on how many government watchlists this thread ends up

[sevenperforce]

4 hours ago, Foehammer said:

I'd love to participate, but this is way out of my skillfield.

Eh, I'm sure you can build a 3-stage ICBM and play around with the launch angle until you can hit a defined target! That's level 1, anyway.

4 hours ago, Foehammer said:

Also, I wonder on how many government watchlists this thread ends up

Given my penchant for discussing nuclear weapon design, I'm probably already on a lot of them.

[MythicalHeFF]

Does the ICBM have to directly hit its target? In the real world, even modern American missiles usually strike a few hundred meters away from the target point. 

[sevenperforce]

7 hours ago, Jack Joseph Kerman said:

Does the ICBM have to directly hit its target? In the real world, even modern American missiles usually strike a few hundred meters away from the target point. 

Nah, submit away.

[Joseph Kerman]

ICBM's are easy. Suborbital is easy. Solid-fuel ICBM? Hard.

[9Mikey1]

Is this still going on?  I actually recently designed a new ICBM and have been working on multiple kill vehicle.   Inside the atmosphere with a scattering payload of beams and outside the atmosphere with an intercept craft with a small RCS powered kill vehicle to take it out.

[Bob_Saget54]

I mean, I have a small "cruise missile" sort of ICBM that cruises along at like 30km

Seems its time to go back to the drawing board

[macktruck6666]

70km really isn't an ICBM. The first ballistic missle ever was the V2 that could only fly from France to England and it had 200km range. During the Cuban missile crisis when everyone was still using liquid fueled rocket, nuclear missiles had about 2500km range. While they can reach other countries, they certainly can't reach other continents.

So, i suggest increasing the range.

I would also suggest adding a dummy payload like an ore canister to simulate the dead wait of the warhead.

Perhaps also having a separate division for solid fuel ICBMs.

Also, perhaps no reaction wheels.

Also, the warheads actually needed to be protected from re-entry head. so maybe heatshields?

ICBMs also have bad accuracy. So hitting a specific target like a building is not the purpose of an ICBM.

Also, there are no rules for it being ballistic. A ballistic missile is by definition at some point ballistic. This means there is no control.

 

Did anyone know that both the soyuz and proton rockets were originally desighned to be ICBMs? Talk about overkill with the Proton. Yeesh.

Edited October 14, 2017 by macktruck6666

[Rocket In My Pocket]

11 hours ago, macktruck6666 said:

70km really isn't an ICBM. The first ballistic missle ever was the V2 that could only fly from France to England and it had 200km range. During the Cuban missile crisis when everyone was still using liquid fueled rocket, nuclear missiles had about 2500km range. While they can reach other countries, they certainly can't reach other continents.

So, i suggest increasing the range.

I'm gonna wager he meant 70km vertically, not horizontally. As in it leaves the atmosphere.

Also by definition an ICBM is an Inter-Continental-Ballistic missile; so yeah...they do kind of have to reach other continents to be considered an ICBM.