> A "stealth" ICBM would not really get you much, would it? Stealth may help avoid interception during the midcourse phase, though: https://media.nti.org/pdfs

> A "stealth" ICBM would not really get you much, would it? Stealth may help avoid interception during the midcourse phase, though: https://media.nti.org/pdfs/10_5.pdf https://media.nti.org/pdfs/10_5.pdf: > Midcourse Phase – “Largest Intercept Window” > The midcourse phase allows the largest opportunity to intercept an incoming missile. At this point the missile is no longer under power, so it follows a more predictable path. Depending on the interceptor launch location, multiple interceptors could be launched, with a delay between them to see if the first ones were successful. Since the interceptor has a longer time to engage, fewer interceptor sites are needed to defend larger areas. > Unfortunately, a longer period in space provides an attacking missile the opportunity to deploy countermeasures against a defensive system. However the defensive system also has more time to observe and discriminate countermeasures from the warhead. But I think you're right that it a stealth ICBM wouldn't achieve as much as one would naively assume, and boost-phase detection would still invite retaliation.