mirv

1. (military) Initialism of multiple independently-targettable reentry vehicle; the independently targettable reentry capsule for a ballistic missile's payload, typically a nuclear weapon, where the missile has multiple instances of such.Examples: "Picking up where we had left off at Vladivostok, we discussed verification of underground nuclear tests that each side could conduct, and also the rules for counting MIRVs — how to tell whether a missile had a single or a multiple warhead. There the Soviets granted a concession. If they placed a MIRV in a certain location, then we had the right to assume that every missile in that field had a MIRV capability."; "The M.I.R.V. is a tactical nuke. Uh, fifty kilotons, nominal yield, say… five times Hiroshima."abbreviationalt-ofinitialism