Although economic sanctions have all but neutered much of the nation’s military modernization efforts, Russia has managed to keep itself relevant in the 21st century by fielding headline-grabbing exotic weapons, including massive nukes far greater in scale than anything Uncle Sam has to offer. With nuclear weapons like the RS-28 Sarmat ICBM and the Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System submersible drone, Russia can cause greater devastation to its targets today than at any point during the Cold War. The thing is… that just doesn’t really matter anymore.
Mutually Assured Destruction
Related: Should we be afraid of North Korea’s massive new ICBM?
While the fighting during the Cold War was largely relegated to comparably small proxy conflicts, the Cold War eclipsed even World War II in terms of stakes. A Nazi victory in World War II would have changed life as we know it worldwide… but a nuclear exchange in the Cold War could have literally ended it. With stakes that high, it wasn’t difficult for both the United States and Soviet Union to convince lawmakers and taxpayers to pour funding into weapons development. The result was nuclear stockpiles so vast and broadly capable that a doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction became the only effective means of deterring large scale war between superpowers.
The concept of Mutually Assured Destruction was originally coined in 1962 by Donald Brennan, a strategist working in Herman Kahn’s Hudson Institute. After the Soviet Union tested their first nuclear weapon in August of 1949, tensions between the World War II allies became significantly more pressing, prompting renewed interest and funding into America’s own weapons of mass destruction. Predictably, the more the United States poured money into defense programs, the more the Soviets did in turn. The result was a cycle of nuclear weapon production and development that found its peak in the 1980s, when the two nation’s combined stockpiles of nuclear weapons exceeded 60,000 (or about six times the combined stockpiles of these nations today).
Related: The 2nd Cuban Missile Crisis you didn’t know about
This arm’s race also extended well beyond the nukes themselves. Each nation also needed broadly distributed means of delivering these weapons to their targets, so no nuclear first-strike could completely eliminate a nation’s ability to respond in kind. In order to accomplish this, the United States began distributing nuclear weapon capabilities across the methods of delivery and service branches. Today, we’ve come to know this distribution as the nuclear triad. While nuclear weapons of varying uses and sizes emerged as a part of this effort, the backbone of America’s nuclear triad emerged as a combination of land-based ICBMs, aircraft-based bombs, and submarine-based missiles. The Soviets soon fielded a comparable triad, matching America’s ability to respond to any nuclear attack.
The doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction remains a prominent part of America’s nuclear deterrence strategy for the Soviet Union’s successor, the Russian government. Today, both nations maintain nuclear stockpiles that are significantly smaller than they did at the height of the Cold War. However, while America has allowed a good portion of its nuclear weapon infrastructure to age toward obsolescence, Russia has continued to lean on its nukes as a means of geopolitical showmanship.
How do Russia’s nukes compare to America’s?
Related: Why there’s no such thing as ‘tactical’ nuclear weapons
The RS-28 Sarmat
Today, the United States maintains approximately 5,800 nuclear weapons, with 3,800 considered active. Within that stockpile are at least 400 LGM-30 Minuteman III land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The Minuteman III has been in service since 1970, has an operational range of more than 6,000 miles, and is accurate to within 800 feet. These missiles can carry between one and three nuclear warheads, each with a maximum explosive yield of 475 kilotons, giving this weapon a maximum yield of 1.425 megatons. To put it another way, that means each American ICBM can deliver about 95 times the destructive capability of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Sounds pretty big, right? America’s dated Minuteman III missiles certainly pack a punch, but even when carrying three of its most potent warheads, these missiles are utterly dwarfed by Russia’s most advanced (and powerful) ICBM coming into service this year: The RS-28 Sarmat.
The RS-28, sometimes known as the “Satan II,” has been in development since 2014, and was famously described as “capable of wiping out parts of the earth the size of Texas or France,” by Russia’s state-owned media. The missile has a range of 6,385 miles and carries a warhead jam-packed with Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles (MIRV) that boast a combined destructive yield of 50 megatons. In other words, the RS-28 Sarmat carries a destructive yield greater than 35 times that of the Minuteman III.
America’s most powerful nuclear bomb in service, the B83, also boasts just a 1.2 megaton yield, and even the most powerful nuclear weapon in American history, the 9 megaton B53, rings in at less than 1/5 the yield of the mighty Sarmat.
But if a missile dubbed the “Satan II” and marketed as a way to remove Texas from the map isn’t massive enough, Russia also boasts another doomsday nuke–one said to match or even double the nuclear yield of the Sarmat, while bolstering its destructive capacity by creating an unnatural, natural disaster.
The Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System
The Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System has gone by a number of names in Western analysis over the years, in part because this weapon was considered something of an urban legend for a long time. Rumors about the Status-6 first bubbled to the surface years ago, largely through vague mentions in Russian news reports, but its existence was confirmed within the past few years–first in a leaked image of a Pentagon intelligence report, and then through official announcements from the Kremlin.
Unlike the submarine-launched nuclear missiles both Russia and the United States maintain as a part of their nuclear triads, the Status-6 (sometimes called “Poseidon” or by its NATO designation of “Kanyon”) is actually a submersible drone. Once deployed by a Russian Navy submarine, the drone can travel autonomously toward its target, covering more than 5,400 miles at depths as low as 3,300 feet. Once it finds its target, the Status-6 simply parks and waits for the command to detonate.
Onboard this submersible drone is an absolutely massive warhead–with some claims saying it carries the same nuclear yield as the RS-28, and others claiming twice that. According to some Russian officials, the Status-6 can be equipped with a 100 megaton weapon… which is two times more powerful than the largest nuclear weapon ever even tested.
A detonation of that magnitude would not only destroy and irradiate a massive area, its positioning under water would result in a radioactive tsunami that would reach far further inland than the blast itself. In no uncertain terms, the Status-6 is intended to serve as a doomsday weapon. It’s the sort of weapon you build not to win wars, but to end them.
What is the strategic value of massive nuclear weapons?
America is amid an arguably overdue effort to modernize its ICBM arsenal in Northrop Grumman’s Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) platform expected to enter service later this decade. Although the weapon’s W87 Mod 0 thermonuclear warhead’s destructive capacity has not been revealed just yet, it stands to reason that these new missiles will still offer significantly less firepower than Russia’s mighty Sarmat, let alone the terrifying 100 megaton capacity claimed by the Status-6.
To some maintaining the Cold War’s mindset of matching capability to deter war, this may seem like an egregious failure on the part of America’s defense infrastructure. After all, how do you hope to deter a 100 megaton weapon if your own most powerful weapons are tiny by comparison? Well, the truth is, you simply don’t have to.
Way back in 1962, when Donald Brennan first coined the term “Mutually Assured Destruction,” the Soviet Union had only successfully tested their first hydrogen bomb (or thermonuclear weapon) some seven years prior. The Soviets didn’t possess any nuclear tsunami drones as they do today, and yet, as far as America was concerned, a nuclear exchange with the Soviets would all but certainly wipe out life on earth as we know it. It’s almost like you don’t need Bond villain-esque nukes to be scary when run-of-the-mill nukes will do the same job.
And therein lies the practical failing of Russia’s massive nukes: They may be good for a bit of geopolitical theater, but strategically they change nearly nothing about the nuclear deterrence mission or the comparative military standing of each nation. Just like during the Cold War, both Russia and the United States are aware that the launch of a single nuclear weapon is all it takes to start a cascade of retaliatory strikes that, once begun, will usher in a nuclear apocalypse most citizens of each nation (and all others) likely won’t survive. When the result is the end of the world, it really doesn’t matter how big that first explosion might be.
So what value is there in a 50 or 100 megaton weapon like those found in Russia’s arsenal? While they don’t actually offer much in the way of strategic value in a nuclear war, they do however play an important role in helping Russia maintain its global reputation as a force to be reckoned with. That reputation is essential, not only for Russia’s aggressive approach to foreign policy, but also to maintain its footing as the arms dealer of choice for nations on America’s naughty list.
Like their token fleet of a dozen or so fifth-generation fighters, or their frequent claims about robot soldiers or invisibility cloaks, Russia depends on foreign press coverage to help advance the perception that Russia is a cutting edge weapons designer and producer. Russia needs the influx of money from foreign sales if they ever hope to secure adequate funding for their notably promising (but sorely under-funded) programs like their T-14 Armata main battle tank.
Put simply: Russia’s massive nukes aren’t really about strategic capability, so much as they’re about perception, intimidation, and economics. Whether or not this effort will be successful, however, is yet to be determined.
Read more from Sandboxx News:
- Project Iceworm: America’s secret nuke tunnels beneath Greenland’s ice
- Destroyer of Worlds: The state of the world’s nuclear arsenals
- NB-36 Crusader: America’s massive nuclear-powered bomber
- Genie: The air-to-air nuke that would have taken out entire bomber fleets
- Pluto: America’s nuclear-powered ramjet doomsday missile
This article was originally published 2/5/2021
Feature image courtesy of the Kremlin
Nuke’m all, and let the Devil sort it out
the world must Avoid Nuclear weoplns
If Russia’s nukes are as overhyped and in as poor working order as the rest of their military complex, the world has little to fear —-other than the possibility missles have been secretly dismantled for scrap and nuclear material sold to the highest bidder on the black market.
I’m not sure if you’re retarded or if you’re 12 years old. Typical over-confident anglo saxon moron that is willing to risk ending the world, because… surely all of their 5000+ rockets must be made be so poorly made that they won’t cause any damage.
“Anglo-saxon” eh?
You’ve basically just vomited out evidence that you’re either a radicalized idiot or a Russian troll.
Go back under your rock. Either way, you’re useless.
Russian troll
Nuclear ANYTHING is fake.
It is used as a control mechanism to create fear in the public. The fear of Nuclear War. Radiation. Fallout. Nagasaki is a bustling city, where according to the atomic bomb people, should still have enough radiation to be killing people.Yet now they say it is making them live longer. That’s how you know it’s B.S. The constant backtracking and changing of the story til at some point you don’t know where it stared.
Nagasaki and Hiroshima were FIRE BOMBED. There was no atomic bomb. Complete fakery.
All you have to do is type in “Nuclear Hoax”.
Outer Space is fake. The fear of an Asteroid or Solar Flare.
NASA spends 50 million a day to provide us with FAKE images. AstroNOTS attached to harnesses that snag or drop all of the sudden while supposedly in zero gravity, 3D CGI graphics failures.
One guy, while on the ISS (supposedly) took a squeeze bottle of water and just sprayed the water into a towel (while in fake zero G), meanwhile all the little droplets of water were just darting off to possibly come in contact with any of the electrical equipment (the station is NOT water proofed)… just look at the fake background they do most of their video’s, full of all sorts so of wires and devices (even sweat would be an issue), as it just doesn’t seem realistic to be taking such risks while traveling at 16,000+ moh.
Viruses are fake. The fear of a pandemic. IF YOU HAVEn’t watched “THE END OF GERM THEORY” then you’re just plain ignorant. Go watch ANY of the videos that would come up under that search and become UN-ignorant.
Hypersonic missiles. Same as nukes. Fakery through fear. They just came out of nowhere and China has them and we don’t and OMG I’m sooooooo f!@king scared.
Soon to come will be a fake Alien Invasion… with the breakaway civilization that hordes the technology, located to the East of New Zealand, playing the part of Alien Invaders. “They” are gonna blast a large population and blame it on “ALIENS”. I’m not sure when but that is one of their plans.
Wherever “They” can, they use this tactic on the public. They have faked just about anything and everything on TV so if wanna know the truth, it’s not coming from the cable box. The daily MSM or “News” is a good way to find out something is fake. If they are describing it and it happens to be something we need to be afraid of, they will either speak of it like it’s something real or fake the event with a video, and cover it as if it were real.
Control through Fear by means of fraudulent science, stories, and news.
That’s the Truth.
How do live with myself in such a dark world? I have discovered something that is going to flip the world back onto it’s feet. I suggest you find something that will do the same. Every time I hear these garbage stories trying to control us through fake shootings, and tragedies it inspires me to continue my work which will ending up bringing those accountable for all these years of lies, cheating, pushing pedophilia and racism, and just general acts against the people.
They think they are gonna run back home, to their little hiding spot, and act like they didn’t push the vaccine on people. They(4 Doctors in Toronto?) already are faking their deaths in Canada fearing the wrath/revenge of their patients’ family members, that didn’t take the “jab”, Faking their deaths to escape accountability… believe it.
That’s enough for now. All of it is true. Controlling the masses through fake everything. Sandy Hook is a hoax. 5 minutes of a “sandy Hoax” search would bring you to such a video on Bitchute proving it was without a doubt a training exercise. Alex Jones is a tool.
Now any news agency can be sued if they aren’t echoing the fake narrative the mainstream puts out and if you go against them and point out the fraud they will sue you without even an actual trial. They say they fined him 50+ million but by law says he can only pay them 1.5 million.
What did Holden Caufield say about the Phonies? Buy them lunch… and never talk to them again? That’s harsh.
You must be a yank
You must be a twat
Dude spent a ton of time writing this out.. I got bored after 2nd sentence though.. 🙄
Dang, that’s a lot of fake stuff. If outer space isn’t real then what’s beyond the clouds?
clouds are fake too!!! (lol)
You assume that a nuclear exchange would be the end of the world. Maybe it will, but a lot don’t think that. Many scientists don’t think nuclear winter is a real thing. Obviously you do, but many don’t agree. Care to show the other side? Might they think they could dispatch us with a first strike, so there is no exchange? Fake pres Biden has certainly been doing his best to weaken us. And why a war with Russia to begin with? The aren’t communist any more, just a geopolitical rival – and one with an economy the size of Italy to boot – so who cares? Or is it that your WEF Malthusians *want* a reduced population, a la the now deceased Georgia Guidestone, so when they emerge they have a world to themselves. Is hormeisis valid or not? You don’t say. You don’t tell us about the other opinion on nuclear winter. This article is very weak
Sadly, the thing that brought us here was the violent Maidan revolution that overthrew a DEMOCRATICALLY elected president in Ukraine, funded by Soros, Obama, etc. So, we overthrew a democratically elected government for the sake of democracy? How does that work. Same Zelensky who imprisoned the opposition and closed down opposing media.
As I say, a weak article. Sorry I wasted the time on it. I was looking for information, not more fasco-Marxist left wing fake news
I don’t see how anyone would claim Status 6 or poseidon wouldn’t change the strategic balance between Russia and the US. This submersible drone has no counter and if 2 were parked off each coast: Norfolk, Boston, LA, and near Strait of Juan de Fuca, US naval forces would be decimated with at least 50% of Ohio class SSBNs destroyed alone.
You are assuming it was a surprise attack. We constantly monitor their nuclear forces as they do ours. With that said, if any activity was shown and the threat was elevated all boomers would be put to sea as well as most of the fleets. The air force would now have aircraft in the air 24/7 and others on alert ready to take off in a moments notice. There is no real defense to a nuclear strike. We might be able to take down a few at best with our current tech and systems. But lets say they just hit the button and send them out of nowhere with a surprise attack. At that point is it even worth throwing ours at them? Because doing so would ensure that mankind would be setback so far that only small pickets if any would live past the outcome of years of radiation and nuclear winter. I was part of the BMD mission in the early years and more I learned about nukes, the more stupid I felt we all our for ever inventing such a thing.
Stunningly interesting article. Much thanks. I always thought Putin was kind of a bad used car salesman … a lot of barking and growling, but no bite. I think the Ukraine is simply his way of pumping up his legacy. The funny thing is that it is having the opposite result. Everybody hates Putin and wants him dead. Intelligence agencies around the world are all trying to figure out how to do exactly that.
Your take on Putin is totally ridiculous. The last 2 presidents of US are used carsalesmen: Biden and Trump. The mere fact that well over 80%, around 83% of Russians support offensive action against Ukraine should tell you this has nothing to do with Putin’s legacy. Who are all of these people hating Putin and wanting him dead? They certainly aren’t in Russia, China, or India. So we are talking at least half of the world’s population within non-aligned countries. Your attitude is based on the flimsy notion that as an American or a European, your opinion counts as 5 or 10 people on the world stage, and its precisely this kind of attitude that is going to get the US dollar dethroned from reserve currency status.
Spot on!
How much territory did Russia invade under Trumps watch?
If Putin’s support in Russia was as high as you state, he would not have to threaten anyone who says otherwise with 7 years in prison. Indians do not support him, their government does not join in because they have purchased tons of Russian junk military equipment they need support on (spare parts etc). China only hears lies from their government, no free press, and their internet is wiped clean of any truth by the government so their opinion is based on lies. Notice no western country has to build a wall to keep their citizens from fleeing to Russia. Notice when people immigrate, they never choose Russia and instead go to western countries. Russia had a chance to join the rest of the world and could have been a great country, but it was taken over by political leaders who wanted power for themselves and screwed Russia’s citizens out of their future. When people inside Russia finally decide enough is enough and get rid of the autocrats, the rest of the world will welcome Russia and enjoy seeing it rise to true greatness. Because Russia at that point will have finally learned that true greatness has nothing to do with acting like a belligerent angry bully.
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Believe it or not, Russia can still act aggressively and aim to cause division and chaos globally regardless of what anyone else is doing.
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This claims, Aloha also and g’day also and plus Thanks also for that this i of Mr. A. H.’s said columns for ‘ ‘ SandBoxx ‘ ‘ for ‘ ‘ WordPress ‘ ‘ on that on it with it now here STILL concedes also that in this case also, ” ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Russia’s MASSIVELY Powerful Nukes Are Strategic DUDS ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ” for himself for himself, for ANYONE whoso accepts also that this even claims also, Aloha also and g’day also and plus Thanks also for that this i of Mr. A. H.’s said accounts for ‘ ‘ SandBoxx ‘ ‘ for ‘ ‘ WordPress ‘ ‘ on that on it with it now here STILL concedes also that in this case also, ” ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Russia’s MASSIVELY Powerful Nukes Are Strategic DUDS ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ” him/herself for him/herself, for fans, for OUTSIDERS, for readers, for visitors, for others also and even for us, too….
But this even as well claims also, Aloha also and Thanks also for that this i of Mr. H.’s said columns for ‘ ‘ SandBoxx ‘ ‘ for ‘ ‘ WordPress ‘ ‘ on that on it with it now here STILL recounts also horrifyingly so also that in this case also, ” ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ A Nazi victory in the Second ( 2nd ) ( iind ) World War WOULD have changed life as we KNOW it worldwide … … but a nuclear exchange in the Cold War COULD have literally ended it…. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ” for himself for himself, for ANYONE whoso accepts also that this even claims also, Aloha also and Thanks also for that this i of Mr. H.’s said accounts for ‘ ‘ SandBoxx ‘ ‘ for ‘ ‘ WordPress ‘ ‘ on that on it with it now here STILL recounts also terrifyingly so also that in this case also, ” ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ A Nazi victory in the Second ( 2nd ) ( iind ) World War WOULD have changed life as we KNOW it worldwide … … but a nuclear exchange in the Cold War COULD have literally ended it…. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ” him/herself for him/herself, for fans, for OUTSIDERS, for readers, for visitors, for others also and even for us, too….
However, this even claims also, Aloha also and g’day also and plus Thanks also for that this i of Mr. H.’s said columns for ‘ ‘ SandBoxx ‘ ‘ for ‘ ‘ WordPress ‘ ‘ on that on it with it now here STILL concedes also that in this case also, ” ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The thing is … … that just REALLY DOESN’T matter ANYMORE…. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ” but then next concedes also that in this case also as well, ” ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Well, the TRUTH is, you simply DON’T have to…. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ” but then next concedes also horrifyingly so also that in this case also as well, ” ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Tis almost as though even mayhap, or as if, you DON’T NEED Bond VILLAINesque nukes to be SCARY when runofthemill nukes WILL DO the same job…. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ” for himself for himself, for ANYONE whoso accepts also that this even claims also, Aloha also and g’day also and plus Thanks also for that this i of Mr. H.’s said accounts for ‘ ‘ SandBoxx ‘ ‘ for ‘ ‘ WordPress ‘ ‘ on that on it with it now here STILL concedes also that in this case also, ” ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ The thing is … … that just REALLY DOESN’T matter ANYMORE…. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ” but then next concedes also that in this case also as well, ” ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ Well, the TRUTH is, you simply DON’T have to…. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ” but then next concedes also terrifyingly so also that in this case also as well, ” ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘Tis almost as though even mayhap, or as if, you DON’T NEED Bond VILLAINesque nukes to be SCARY when runofthemill nukes WILL DO the same job…. ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ” him/herself for him/herself, for fans, for OUTSIDERS, for readers, for visitors, for others also and even for us, too….
rather than preparing for war against Ukraine
the Kremlin’s actual response seems more focused on securing Lukashenka in Belarus
they have Ukraine under their thumbs for now, no need to alter that status quo
45th Guards Independent Special Purpose Brigade VDV has deployed to Minsk
the Kremlin seems to fear a putsch in Belarus incited from Poland
so are moving forces to conduct hybrid warfare on the Sulwalki Corridor
SSN 787 USS Washington was seen docked at Tromso to take on supplies, likely heading round the North Cape into the Barents, plausibly to follow Russian SSBN up under the ice
the Russians seem to be searching for submarines right now, in the Varanger Fjord,
the Northern Fleet having put to sea, US Navy P-8’s orbiting continuously there
Considering the date today 1/29/2022 and what’s mounting in the Ukraine… I think we are all going to find out soon how a nuclear engagement between the NATO and Russia will play out. Don’t kid yourselves, it will very likely escalate into just that.
Contrary to what people believe a full scale nuclear exchange will not end all life on earth. In fact most people outside target areas will find themselves very much alive. Also understanding Radioactive fallout will generally dissipate in about 3 weeks after its over (with the exception of the Russian Status-6 that leaves Cobalt-60 around for 100 years).
You can survive the fallout if you know what to do.
the war fever seems to be largely a fiction incited by the corporate media
the American, British & Canadian governments ginning up a pony war to distract from domestic unpopularity, state corporate media cronies wagging the dog for them
there are no tangible signs that the Russian Western District is actually mobilizing for war imminently, it would take many more troops than the claimed “127,000”
This didn’t age well, did it?
Finally, someone with some sense. Putin isn’t bluffing. That much is obvious. The military industrial complex coupled with mainstream media are leading Americans down the primrose path and straight into a mushroom cloud.
The author should study some John Mearsheimer, Stephen Cohen or Lawrence Wilkerson before writing anything else.
At the very least he should familiarize himself with Ike’s MIC warning and spend some time thinking about why it is that virtually every westerner knows names like Switchblade, NLAW, Javelin by heart all of a sudden.
Daniel,tell us how Russia won in Afghanistan please.
The Mongols slaughtered and enslaved them
another aspect to consider
is that MAD does not comport with the American religion
MAD means Mutual Vulnerability
but deep in the soul of the republic, America cannot accept it
Declaration of Independence Preamble
natural rights endowed by the Creator
the Shot Heard Round the World
Glorious Union
free all the slaves everywhere, or die trying
from Appomattox Court House to the Sea of Tranquility & beyond
the Eagle with thunderbolts in talons grasped: will never accept Mutual Vulnerability
thus the Pentagon carries on with its primary mission, which is a counterforce option in the end
oh, and you also miss the point of Status-6 Kanyon and the like
the significance is not so much that the bomb would be big
the significance is that it can be delivered anonymously
you know where a ballistic missile came from, so you can strike back
with undersea strategic nuclear weapons however, there is no return address
the weapon simply pops on your coast, right up the Potomac perhaps
then the NCA is left with a quandary
who did it ?
what did it ?
where did that come from ?
boom, Washington is just gone, and there is nobody taking credit for it
who do you retaliate against then ?
they’re just going to end with world with Minuteman III’s on a guess ?
probably not
Wouldn’t the sheer power and delivery system stamp a clear return address in it?
hard to say how America would react to a decapitation attack
in 1983 perhaps the response would be predictable
but in this day and age, I would expect chaos in the wake
would there be some authority saying what the yield was and how it was delivered ? Would anybody trust that authority ?
the Russians would still be sitting at alert with their ICBMs & SLBMs
It’s not a win to retaliate, that would be doomsday for the rest of the CONUS
do Americans even want to die for Washington DC anymore?
would you even miss Federal City if it was gone ?
my point is simply that MAD is just a theory
there’s no scientific basis to the MAD doctrine, it’s quite political
I don’t think it would survive contact with an actual attack
it’s certainly not assured
don’t forget that the Russian conops is now Nuclear Deescalation
that’s Nuclear Blackmail in essence
they are in an asymmetrical fight
they’re not going to launch everything at once in a massive attack
its a tit for tat, one strike at a time, to force you to the negotiating table
and this would include counterforce options
so the target could be in a more grey area, like Naples, Rota or Guam
We will choose Russia to respond against, whether it’s from them or not, who cares. The best commie is a dead commie.
boom, Washington is just gone, and there is nobody taking credit for it
who do you retaliate against then ?
Russia.
they’re just going to end with world with Minuteman III’s on a guess ?
Yes. We’re going to wipe them out, and China too, their ally. We wont care.
don’t forget that MAD relies on getting rid of all tactical nuclear weapons
MAD is the state of being strictly Countervalue
MAD means only holding each others population centers hostage, with City Killer warheads
no tactical warheads, no INF, no BMD, all of that being violently destabilizing to MAD
thus, so long as they are proliferating tactical nuclear weapons & BMD in theaters
MAD is not in anyway comprehensive
there is great deterrence against an interpolar exchange between the CONUS & RF, no doubt
but there is plenty of room for theater thermonuclear war with tactical yields
to wit, Moscow can nuke Romania & Co and get away with it
the NCA will not retaliate against Russia, because that would invoke the mighty Sarmat
never mind the war could be started by third parties, Subcontinent, Korean Peninsula, etc
then spiral out of control from there
so carrying a big nuclear stick matters, in this now multipolar Cold War 2 enviroment
Russia is not just deterring America, China & India are building up their arsenals rapidly
all nuclear powers are mortal threats to each other
only the US & UK have a joint deterrent, everybody else are free agents against all
The UK nukes are not a joint deterrent to the US, they are independent of US control and if the UK wanted to fire them they do so without American approval or knowledge.
also bear in mind the reason why NATO warheads are getting ever smaller
because in fact NATO is preparing for a Counterforce operation, that is the trajectory
there is no other purpose for weapons like B61-12 & W76-2
there is no other purpose for Aegis BMD & Hypersonics
SSBN-734 USS Tennessee is already loaded with W76-2 warheads now
those are tactical yield warheads on the UGM-133A SLBM
depressed trajectory tactical SLBM is an inherent theater counterforce weapon
so Ivan is right, the Pentagon is shifting from MAD Countervalue to an all Counterforce option
the Russian counter strategy is Nuclear Deescalation
an euphemism for nuclear blackmail
so being scary is important for Ivan, there is indeed a psyops component
the logic behind the Soviet/Russian conops is simply “Dead Hand”
Ivan does not rely on early warning such as BMEWS & SBIRS
instead he goes for survivable second strike by sheer mass
Ivan obviously assumes the scenario will be a NATO counterforce
and he clearly knows that NATO would do a lot of damage
so only a fraction of his missiles will survive the counterforce
then it has to defeat the ever expanding global BMD capabilities
so whatever nukes Ivan has, they need to be big
to do maximum damage with whichever missiles survive in the face of counterforce + BMD
“Russia’s aggressive approach to foreign policy“
Yes those Russkies with their 700+ military bases around the world. Oh, that’s us? Nevermind.
Although economic sanctions have all but neutered much of the nation’s military modernization efforts Eh… our nation’s military modernization efforts are pretty much on track. 71%, last time i checked. I’m assuming you talking about Russia. Russia has managed to keep itself relevant in the 21st century by Love the arrogance. “Relevant”. Cute. not only for Russia’s aggressive approach to foreign policy “Aggressive approach to foreign policy”. Good one. Like their token fleet of a dozen or so fifth-generation fighters, or their frequent claims about robot soldiers or invisibility cloaks, Care to quote official russian sources – namely Ministery of Defence – that are frequently and unsubstantial claiming about robot soliders, invisibility cloaks, flying nano-carpets, e.t.c.? Russia depends on foreign press coverage to help advance the perception that Russia is a cutting edge weapons designer and producer. Funny. I’ve read enough foreign press, that was filled with articles about “obsolete russian tech”, “rusty planes”, “outdated ships” e.t.c. Especially, if a lucrative contract with, say, India, was on the horizon. Russia needs the influx of money from foreign sales if they ever hope to secure adequate funding for their notably promising (but sorely under-funded) programs like their T-14 Armata main battle tank. Why? Our military budget does not need to rely on military sails to foreign customers. You can easily check it for yourself and compare. The amout of funds that our budget (not just military – country’s as a whole) is recieving from military sales and the budget that is being relocated to our military. Put simply: Russia’s massive nukes aren’t really about strategic capability, so much as they’re about perception, intimidation, and economics. Whether or not this effort will be successful, however, is yet to be determined. So… in other words, just like USA of China’s “massive nukes”.
A 25 megaton bomb was the us biggest bomb. Secondly, there’s a principle by which there is not the same difference in area affected by heat and blast and the difference in total energy so 95 time the energy is nowhere near the same in actual area effected.
It would take 10 years to re-open the sites for U-235 and Plutonium 239 production. We only reprocess the materials from retired weapons. I agree all our warheads are so old I bet 50% won’t even go off. Our ICBM’s are even older. We should not have retired the MX misstle cep of only 90 meters and 10 warheads a piece. I also think they should have kept the 50 B-53’s held in reserve.
MAD is only relevant if the other guy believes you have an effective force. Ours is decades by its sell-by date. We need a drastic overhaul of the entire nuclear weapons system in the US from production to deployment.
It is a difference in strategic philosophy. The USSR believed in strategic annihilation because their weapons are not capable of the precision strikes the way US weapons are. The Chinese follow the same annihilation tactic.
Beyond a certain point does the additional firepower matter? Bottom line is that Moscow and Washington will be flattened and most of the underground bunkers collapsed. All airfields and ports will be wiped clean of any usable function and India and China will be the new ‘superpowers’.
Any additional nuclear firepower will just keep those left alive otherwise to not suffer the radiation death.
It does matter because Moscow and Washington, DC are the last targets on any “rational” target list.
The initial targets will be counter-force targets such as Kings Bay NB and Kitsap NB [SSBN missile bases]; the 20th AF missile fields in the northern Mid-West, Whiteman AFB, Minot AFB, Barksdale AFB – all strategic bomber bases; Kirtland AFB, Nellis AFB, and Amarillo Texas – the AFBs are nuclear weapons storage sites and Amarillo has Pantex where nukes are built and disassembled.
Other sites include Los Alamos NL, Lawrence Livermore NL, the Y-12 plant, and the Northwest N.L. that design weapons and produce plutonium, oralloy, tritium, and lithium/ hydrogen deuteride.
NC2 sites that command and control the use of the weapons would include Offutt AFB that houses Global Strike Command and the E-4B Nightwatch aircraft, along with Tinker AFB which houses the Navy’s TACAMO E-6B Mercury aircraft. There are several AT&T sites that house the uplinks/downlinks to satellite communication sites around the US that would destroyed to sever communications links.
Nuclear capable F-15, F-16, F-22, and F-35 aircraft bases, along with P-3 and P-8 anti-submarine bases would be next to preclude tactical strikes against airbases and SSBN submarines that would have launched proximal to the US coasts.
If the US were still unwilling to negotiate a pause / peace, next to go would be steel mills, dams, electrical plants – including nuclear power generation sites, aluminium smelters, ammunition plants, conventional military bases, large airports, communications nodes for satellites, television, radio, HF, VHF, UHF, etc; all industry capable of producing defense materiel such as Boeing, Northup-Grumman, Lockheed-Martin, and other aviation plants; train yards; truck parks; and vehicle manufacturing plants; food cultivation/processing/storage facilities; etc.
In the final stages and if no pause is reached, counter-value targets [cities] would go next. Thermonuclear weapons, mixed with bio-weapons [this component may be obsolete now], would be used to destroy the American nation with every city with or larger than ~50,000 populace and no strategic/warfighting value would be attacked.
The leaders of the US would be the last attacked because they are the only persons capable of negotiating a possible peace deal.
The war would not be fought in a day or less, it would take weeks as the weapons fall in a timed sequential plan designed to incapacitate by levels. The idea of one ‘wargasm’ attack is a remnant of the scare of Pearl Harbor.
Read ‘Arms and Influence’ by Thomas Schelling.
The Gov Will be NUKED alongside with Nuclear Sites because the command and launch codes die with them. Do you really think there would be a “Negotiation” after Nukes are flying? BTW NATO and Rússia Just ceased relations. You know they know US is behind ISIS +Euromaidan right. Get your bunker ready. PS Rússia never Lost a War.