Top 10 Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) in the World in 2026

Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are the most destructive weapons ever built: rockets that can carry nuclear warheads more than 5,500 km in about 30 minutes. Only a handful of countries field them, and in 2026 the field is changing fast as China expands its arsenal, Russia struggles to replace Soviet-era designs and the United States builds a successor to the Minuteman. Here are the ten most significant ICBMs in service or close to it.

1. DF-41 (China)

China’s most advanced ICBM is a solid-fuel missile with an estimated range of 12,000-15,000 km, able to carry several independently targeted warheads (MIRVs). It can be launched from road-mobile vehicles and from the hundreds of new silos China has built in its western deserts.

2. RS-28 Sarmat (Russia)

A heavy liquid-fuel missile meant to replace the Soviet SS-18 “Satan,” with a claimed range of up to 18,000 km and a very large payload. Its deployment has been repeatedly delayed, and a reported test failure in 2024 raised questions about its readiness.

3. LGM-30G Minuteman III (United States)

About 400 Minuteman IIIs stand in silos across the American Midwest. First deployed in 1970 and repeatedly upgraded, it has a range of over 13,000 km and is due to be replaced by the LGM-35A Sentinel in the 2030s.

4. RS-24 Yars (Russia)

The backbone of Russia’s land-based nuclear force, the Yars is a solid-fuel missile carried on road-mobile launchers or in silos, with a range of about 11,000-12,000 km and multiple warheads.

5. DF-5C (China)

The latest version of China’s large liquid-fuel, silo-based ICBM was shown publicly at the September 2025 Beijing parade. It can carry multiple warheads and reach anywhere in the continental United States.

6. Hwasong-19 (North Korea)

Tested in October 2024, this solid-fuel road-mobile missile flew for a record 86 minutes, showing North Korea can build a large ICBM that is faster to launch and harder to target than its earlier liquid-fuel designs.

7. Avangard (Russia)

Not a missile itself but a hypersonic glide vehicle carried on top of an ICBM, Avangard is claimed to maneuver at speeds above Mach 20 to evade missile defenses.

8. Agni-V (India)

An ICBM-class missile with a range of more than 5,000 km. In 2024 India tested it with multiple independently targeted warheads under “Mission Divyastra,” joining a small club of MIRV-capable nations.

9. DF-31AG (China)

A road-mobile, solid-fuel missile with a range of around 11,000 km. In September 2024 China test-fired an ICBM into the Pacific for the first time in decades, widely believed to be a DF-31-family missile.

10. Topol-M (Russia)

Russia’s first post-Soviet ICBM, a single-warhead missile now being gradually replaced by the Yars but still in service.

The bigger picture

With the New START treaty having expired in February 2026 and China rapidly building up, the world is entering a three-way nuclear competition with fewer rules than at any time since the Cold War. ICBMs, cheap to keep on alert and hard to destroy in hardened silos or on mobile launchers, sit at the center of it.

Featured image: U.S. Air Force / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons