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In the early 1980s documentary First Strike, one of the arguments made for the development of the MX missile program was that in the event of a massive Soviet attack on the land-based missile and bomber forces of the United States, the SLBM force would be "too inaccurate" to effectively target the Soviet strategic missile force. This inaccuracy would mean that the SLBM force would be restricted to targeting "soft targets" such as cities, air bases, and ports.

What was the cause of the inaccuracy of the SLBM force compared to the land-based ICBM force, and does this difference still exist today?

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    +1 Interesting. The agenda of the video seems to be promoting the necessity of second strike counterforce capability. Apparently this was a debate at the time. Based on the dubious idea that a similar counterforce retaliation against the USSR would end the nuclear exchange rather than escalate it. Related MIT document, it also notes Polaris was inaccurate for use against hardened structures.
    – Nathan
    Commented May 23, 2013 at 16:20
  • Perhaps the real test as to whether you think they are accurate or not would be to ask yourself a simple question. Would you be prepared to discover the truth about their accuracy by being on the receiving end of a test firing?
    – Derek Still
    Commented Aug 8, 2013 at 21:40
  • test firings have been made, and their accuracy measured. Obviously no life warheads were used but steel or concrete slugs of similar weight and aerodynamic properties.
    – jwenting
    Commented Aug 9, 2013 at 4:06
  • @DerekStill Don't be ridiculous. Being unprepared to die testing one's belief is hardly an indication that the belief is unjustified.
    – David Richerby
    Commented Dec 7, 2014 at 0:08
  • @NathanCooper The idea of 2nd counter strike based on unlocated missile launching platforms (in fact those are submarines) is to neutralize any "try-hard". A "try-hard" would be a tentative from an ennemy to neutralize the nuclear missiles of a country and then become the only one to have nuclear missile
    – totalMongot
    Commented Jan 1, 2022 at 20:53

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Ballistic missile delivery depends very much on knowing exactly where you are launching from. Early SLBM launch platforms had typical positional uncertainties of 100's of metres. As the missile and any MIRV warheads were just unguided projectiles launch positional errors magnified and the resultant destination error could be very wide.

Land based missiles were preferred as the launch position was known accurately but vulnerable to first force strikes.

Modern SLBM platforms know their position to some centimetres allowing better accuracy and reduced yields for smaller targets. Modern missiles can partially correct for early launch drift, first stage drift by star sight observation reducing the error probability at target by orders of magnitude.

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    @T.E.D. The US military uses SI almost exclusively (otherwise working with other nations' military forces would have been a nightmare). "Klick" is slang for kilometer, for example.
    – yannis
    Commented May 23, 2013 at 19:38
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    I drink beer in pints. I engineer in metric.
    – ExpatEgghead
    Commented May 25, 2013 at 5:50
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    GPS was developed to increase the position correctness of SLBM platforms.
    – Martin Schröder
    Commented May 27, 2013 at 20:47
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    It is now assumed that GPS will not be available during a nuclear exchange. Certainly UK and French SLBMs do not use it.
    – ExpatEgghead
    Commented May 29, 2013 at 3:55
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    @ExpatEgghead thought real beer drinkers drank in gallons? :)
    – jwenting
    Commented Aug 9, 2013 at 4:03

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