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RE: Missile Technology - the weapon of destruction. [2nd chapter]
How much consideration is taken in to account for atmospheric conditions over the course of a ballistic missiles flight path? I mean would not those conditions play at least a perceivable role in how far a missile could go, say it flew through a jet stream or not, would not that potentially high wind environment potentially slow down the missile?
Yes, the flight path is greatly influenced by the atmospheric conditions. Small thrusters are often used for secondary propulsion after re-entering the atmosphere. Actually the total operational range is not much affected by the condition of air as the accuracy of the attack does. So for most of the longer range ballistic missiles, there are thrusters and secondary guidance mechanism attached to hit the target precisely.