What are land-based missiles with intercontinental range called?

• A. SLBMs
• B. MRBMs
• C. IRBMs
• D. ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles)

Answer: (D)

The main idea here is how ballistic missiles are grouped by how far they can travel and where they are launched from. Missiles that are launched from land and can reach intercontinental distances are called Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. They’re designed for very long-range strikes and are deployed in land-based silos or on land-based launchers, making their defining features the land-based origin and the intercontinental reach.

Missiles launched from submarines are in a different category (submarine-launched ballistic missiles) and can also have long ranges, but the question specifies land-based, so that option doesn’t fit. The other ranges—medium-range and intermediate-range—do not reach intercontinental distances, so they wouldn’t be classified as intercontinental missiles.