Why do ICBM armed nations only use them for nuclear warhead delivery and not conventional warheads?

Question

I only read about ICBMs being armed with nuclear warheads. I have never read about them being armed with conventional weapons. So that must mean that the nations that have ICBMs only use them as part of their nuclear armed forces.

Why is this? Why not use ICBMs for conventional reasons?

In: 13

Answer 1

The payloads of missiles aren’t huge. That’s okay for nuclear weapons which pack a lot of bang per pound, but wouldn’t make sense for chemical explosives.

That being the case, any nation that sees an ICBM coming toward it is going to assume it’s a nuclear attack, and react accordingly.