That’s assuming rational leadership, which is a big assumption. That means, aside from the United States and Russia, no country is incentivized to initiate a nuclear attack on its own. The moment they detect a launch targeting their silos, they’d launch in response targeting population centers-ensuring Mutually Assured Destruction. That means it doesn’t have enough for a practical alpha strike, so they’re relegated to a retaliatory strike. China is currently estimated to have 350. And aside from Russia and the United States, other powers have a few hundred nuclear weapons at most. Once again, an Alpha Strike would have to be comprehensive. These state-of-the-art missiles can reach up to Mach 5, or 4,000 miles per hour, to deliver their payload in minutes from across the Pacific or Atlantic.īut these types of weapons are not universally used. Fired near their targets, the enemy has minimal time to respond before their warheads hit.Īnother more recent weapon designed for alpha strikes is the hypersonic missile. If ever called into action, an Ohio-class submarine can unleash up to 24 sub-based missiles with multiple independently targeted warheads. spends $2.4 billion annually to maintain 14 ballistic missile submarines. They’re engineered to avoid detection and run for long periods in enemy waters. ( Image courtesy of Federation of American Scientists)Īlpha attack submarines were invented for that specific purpose. And since the United States and Russian leaders have their version of a “nuclear football” on hand to initiate a launch at any time, you’d have to be extremely quick. You’d have to wipe out most, if not all, of the enemy’s weapons before they get the chance to retaliate. The catch with an alpha strike is that it would have to be comprehensive. In theory, taking the initiative would prevent the enemy from retaliating with their entire arsenal and cut projected deaths to more “acceptable” levels (often still in the millions). This leads us to the concept of the “alpha strike.”Īn alpha strike is a pre-emptive attack on a hostile enemy, first targeting their nuclear weapons and military assets. At the same time, both sides kept fighting for an edge that would let them skirt all-out annihilation-even if their opponent didn’t. More bombs meant more destructive power and deterrence to keep the enemy from attacking. MAD drove the rapid accumulation of nuclear weapons during those years. You shoot your nuke at me, and I’ll shoot back until no one’s left alive in either country. But it’s also simple enough for any schoolboy to understand. The concept of “Mutually Assured Destruction” (MAD) was robust enough to maintain a nuclear stalemate between the USSR and America throughout the Cold War. Practical Protection for a Nuclear Attackĭespite the technological sophistication of nuclear weapons, the doctrine dictating their use is caveman-simple. To prepare yourself and your family for the nightmare scenario of an all-out nuclear attack.Ĥ Steps to Surviving the Immediate Aftermath of a Nuclear Attack Which is all the more reason to do everything you can to understand these weapons. So much so that the concept of a “megadeath” (or one million dead from a single attack) was coined to discuss the topics we’re about to cover today. The immense power of these weapons is unlike anything else in human history. There’s no way to cover this topic without touching on some exceptionally dark material. ( Image courtesy of US Department of Energy) We will dive deep into the specific strategies and weapons most likely to be deployed and the fallout that would result in the aftermath.Ī warning ahead of time what you’re about to read will be grim. So today, we will show you what that nuclear attack map might look like for 2023. It can shape your response in those crucial early moments of crisis and help you plan your response beforehand. The target of a nuclear strike would vary based on the aggressor and the type of attack.īut as you’re about to see, certain regions of America are at far greater risk than others.Īnd knowing where it will happen before the nuclear bomb ever goes off … is a potentially life-saving advantage in the face of a cataclysmic nuclear attack. You’d know when and where the bombs might fall first … and which cities, bases, or locations might be hit in secondary attacks. What if you had a nuclear attack map-a guide showing exactly when and where each strike would occur-before the first warhead went off? ( Image courtesy of Princeton University/Nuclear Futures Lab)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |