The longest-range nuclear missiles can travel over 11,000 miles (18,000 kilometers), far enough to reach any point on Earth from nearly any launch site. But that number only tells part of the story. Nuclear weapons travel by several different methods, each with its own range, speed, and flight profile. The distance depends entirely on what’s carrying the warhead.
Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles: The Longest Reach
ICBMs are the backbone of long-range nuclear delivery. Any ballistic missile with a range of 1,000 kilometers or more is classified as long-range, but the weapons most people think of when they picture a nuclear strike fly much farther than that minimum threshold.
The U.S. Minuteman III, currently the only land-based ICBM in the American arsenal, has a range of over 6,000 miles (roughly 9,650 kilometers). It reaches speeds of approximately 15,000 mph at burnout, which is about Mach 23. Russia’s RS-28 Sarmat pushes even further, with a reported maximum range of 18,000 kilometers (about 11,185 miles). That’s enough to strike targets on the opposite side of the globe using either a standard trajectory or a path over the South Pole, bypassing some missile defense systems entirely. China’s DF-41 falls in the 12,000 to 15,000 kilometer range (7,450 to 9,320 miles), making it the longest-range missile in China’s inventory. North Korea’s Hwasong-18, a solid-fueled ICBM first tested in 2023, has an estimated range of 15,000 kilometers, enough to reach the continental United States from the Korean peninsula.
These missiles follow an arc-shaped trajectory. They launch nearly vertically during a boost phase lasting three to five minutes, then enter a midcourse phase where they coast through space at around 24,000 kilometers per hour (15,000 mph). This midcourse phase lasts roughly 20 minutes for an intercontinental flight. The final descent, called the terminal phase, lasts less than a minute, with warheads re-entering the atmosphere at speeds above 3,200 kilometers per hour. From launch to impact, a typical ICBM flight between continents takes about 25 to 30 minutes.
Submarine-Launched Missiles
Nuclear submarines carry their own class of ballistic missiles, and their effective reach is a combination of missile range plus the sub’s ability to get close to a target undetected. The U.S. Navy’s Trident II D5 missile has a range of 4,000 nautical miles (roughly 7,400 kilometers or 4,600 statute miles). That’s shorter than a land-based ICBM on paper, but submarines can patrol in waters much closer to their targets, making the effective striking distance global.
Because a submarine can be positioned in any ocean, the meaningful range of a sea-launched weapon isn’t just the missile’s flight distance. A sub sitting in the North Atlantic or the Pacific can put warheads on targets thousands of miles inland. The Trident II represents the sixth generation of U.S. submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and each generation has increased in range, payload, and accuracy since the original Polaris entered service in 1960.
Nuclear Bombers
Not all nuclear weapons ride on missiles. Strategic bombers like the B-2 Spirit can deliver nuclear gravity bombs or air-launched cruise missiles. The B-2 has an unrefueled range of approximately 6,000 nautical miles (9,600 kilometers). With aerial refueling, that range becomes essentially unlimited. In practice, B-2 bombers have flown nonstop missions from the central United States to targets on the other side of the world and back.
Bombers are far slower than ballistic missiles, taking hours rather than minutes. But they offer something missiles don’t: the ability to be recalled after launch. They also carry cruise missiles that can be released hundreds of miles from the target, meaning the bomber itself never has to enter heavily defended airspace.
Hypersonic Glide Vehicles
A newer category of nuclear delivery system sits between traditional ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. Hypersonic glide vehicles are launched on top of a ballistic missile booster but then separate and glide through the upper atmosphere at speeds above Mach 5. Their range can exceed 10,000 kilometers, and unlike a traditional ballistic warhead that follows a predictable arc, these vehicles can maneuver laterally and change course during flight. They can weave, skip along the upper atmosphere, or make sharp turns, all designed to make interception extremely difficult. Both Russia and China have fielded operational hypersonic glide systems, and the U.S. is developing its own.
Shorter-Range Nuclear Missiles
Not every nuclear-capable missile is designed to cross oceans. Short-range ballistic missiles cover 300 to 1,000 kilometers (roughly 185 to 620 miles), and close-range systems fly less than 300 kilometers. These weapons are built for regional conflicts rather than intercontinental strikes. Several countries possess nuclear-capable short-range missiles, including Pakistan and India, where the distances between potential targets are measured in hundreds of miles rather than thousands.
Cruise missiles also fall into this shorter-range category. They fly at lower altitudes and slower speeds than ballistic missiles, hugging terrain to avoid radar. Nuclear-armed cruise missiles typically have ranges in the hundreds to low thousands of miles, depending on the specific system.
What Limits a Nuclear Weapon’s Range
The warhead itself doesn’t determine how far a nuclear weapon can travel. Range comes down to the delivery vehicle: how much fuel it carries, how many stages its rocket has, and how heavy the payload is. A missile carrying a single warhead can fly farther than the same missile loaded with multiple warheads, because less weight means more distance. This tradeoff between payload and range is why published range figures often appear as a span (the DF-41’s 12,000 to 15,000 kilometer range, for example) rather than a single number.
Trajectory also matters. An ICBM launched on a “lofted” trajectory, fired nearly straight up and coming down steeply, covers less ground distance but is harder to intercept. The same missile on a flatter, minimum-energy trajectory reaches its maximum range. During North Korea’s missile tests, analysts have had to calculate what the range would have been on a normal flight path, since the missiles were deliberately fired on steep lofted trajectories to avoid flying over neighboring countries. The Hwasong-18’s test, for instance, flew high and short, but on a standard trajectory it would have covered more than 15,000 kilometers.
For all practical purposes, the major nuclear powers (the U.S., Russia, and China) can strike any location on Earth. Between land-based ICBMs, submarine-launched missiles positioned across the world’s oceans, and bombers with refueling capability, there is no populated area on the planet outside the reach of these arsenals.