Missile exchanges have played a decisive role in many interstate military conflicts (CSIS Missile Threat Initiative). While drones and other emerging technologies have gained prominence, missiles remain unmatched in their capacity for long-range destruction, strategic signaling, and deterrence.
The Missile Tests Dataset enables researchers and policymakers to track how and when states prepare these weapons for operational use. While organizations like CSIS, and NTI provide extensive data on North Korea, similar datasets for other countries are often lacking. To address this gap, the Missile Tests Dataset provides a time-series cross-sectional account of global missile testing practices, enabling comparative analysis across countries and time periods.
Why study missile tests? Because they are how nations operationalize their most sophisticated and destructive military capabilities. An untested missile has limited strategic value—it may fail when most needed, undermining deterrence and credibility. Patterns in missile testing can thus reveal a state’s military readiness, strategic ambitions, and propensity to negotiate, escalate, or challenge the international status quo. Moreover, such tests often raise tensions, trigger arms races, and shape the foreign policy behavior of other nations far beyond the immediate region.
In this page, you will be able to find all the different versions of Missile Tests Dataset.
Version 2.0:
The current version of the Missile Tests Dataset is accessible from the OSF (Open Science Framework) from the link https://osf.io/nbh79/
Unique Identifier for v.2.0: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/NBH79
License: CC-By Attribution 4.0 International
Details: This version includes all countries that have conducted at least one recorded missile test between 1934 and 2015. Additionally, given the expanded time scope, there is one additional missile manufacturer compared to v.1.0, the Third Reich. The inclusion of this country enables tracking the tests of the world’s first liquid-fueled ballistic missile: the V-2. The File in the OSF contains a detailed codebook about differences between v.1.0 and v.2.0.
My forthcoming article in Journal of Global Security Studies includes statistical analyses using v.2.0. Stay tuned.
Version 1.0:
The first version of the “Missile Tests Dataset” is accessible from the OSF from the link https://osf.io/j8xwv/
Unique Identifier for v.1.0: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/J8XWV
License: CC-By Attribution 4.0 International
Details: The scope of this version is limited to the tests conducted by all missile-manufacturing and reverse-engineering countries worldwide between 1945 and 2015. The unit of analysis is a day when the country of interest is reported to have conducted a missile test. The relevant data was released through a paper published in Defence & Peace Economics. The paper can be found via the following link: https://doi.org/10.1080/10242694.2021.1990516
Aiglon's Two Cents 