The Joint Chiefs’ vice chair says smaller-yield weapons are needed to deter the use of same.
The future of nuclear weapons might not be huge and mega destructive but smaller, tactical, and frighteningly, more common. The U.S. Air Force is investigating more options for “variable yield” bombs — nukes that can be dialed down to blow up an area as small as a neighborhood, or dialed up for a much larger punch.
The Air Force currently has gravity bombs that either have or can be set to low yields: less than 20 kilotons. Such a bomb dropped in the center of Washington, D.C., wouldn’t even directly affect Georgetown or Foggy Bottom. But a Minuteman III missile tipped with a 300-kiloton warhead would destroy downtown Washington and cause third-degree burns into Virginia and Maryland.
Throughout much the Cold War, the thinking in Washington and especially Moscow was that bigger yields was better: the more destruction, the more deterrence. This thinking drove the Soviet Union to build the most powerful bomb ever, the Tzar Bomba, whose 100,000 kilotons, detonated over DC, would burn Baltimore.
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WNU Editor: This argument of having mini-nukes has been around for a long time .... and the arguments against them are still valid. Once a nuclear weapon is used .... even a smaller one .... in a major conflict it will only be a question of time before the bigger ones are used.
1 comment:
Wnu, you're spot on on this one... please shine more light on it. ..it barely gets discussed.
The US has to take quite a bit of blame on this one...they have been driving the mini nukes and variable yield strategy, combined with more precise strike capabilities for a long time and this saw again acceleration under Obama.
The reason why people didn't use nuclear weapons after WW2 was because of MAD. With smaller nukes MAD doctrine will be not only be eroded,but a certain level of international blasé will set in, as we see on every other topic...And given the current ineffectiveness of the UN and NATO,this would spell doomsday quicker than an autistic kid at a spelling bee game show.
People should have a say on this topic. We cannot allow this automatism. I rarely say this, but I'm thankful to Russia on this subject. Except for the cuban missile crisis the Russians were more rationale and human on this subject than the US...
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