OCONNORDM@CRDGW2.crd.ge.com (Dennis O'Connor) (08/10/89)
From: OCONNORDM@CRDGW2.crd.ge.com (Dennis O'Connor) [First person to use the new address!] Nuclear Aint-Aircraft weapons have been studied, I don't know if any are in use. I believe one of the Nike series of ground-to-air missiles was nuclear-capable. "First use" of such a weapon against an incoming wave of (presumably) nuclear-armed bombers, once the bombers are over your territory, isn't really "first use", I'd say. The bombers are. EMP is probably not an issue : my understanding is that EMP is only produced by a stratospheric detonation, not by a tropospheric one. So detonating a nuke at say 40K feet shouldn't be a problem. Beats me what type of nuke you'd want. A "regular" heat-and-blast warhead would work fine, unless it used over your own territory, in which case, it would probably have some "serious detrimental side effects". An enhanced-radiation weapon, maybe X-ray to disrupt the avioncs?, might be a better choice. But then again, given that your own ground forces are probably buttoned-up in a heavily-armoured tank or APC, maybe a clean "regular" nuke would do fine. And there's very little fall-out from air bursts. IF I were the Russians, maybe a bunch of crude ground-based sight-and-sound spotting stations, and a few Nuclear SAMs, would seem just the ticket for low-cost anti-B2 defense. Certainly, the West could no longer COUNT on the B-2 penetrating. Dennis O'Connor OCONNORDM@CRD.GE.COM
pokey@well.sf.ca.us (Jef Poskanzer) (08/11/89)
From: Jef Poskanzer <pokey@well.sf.ca.us> In the referenced message, OCONNORDM@CRDGW2.crd.ge.com (Dennis O'Connor) wrote: }Nuclear Aint-Aircraft weapons have been studied, I don't know }if any are in use. I believe one of the Nike series of }ground-to-air missiles was nuclear-capable. Right, the Nike Hercules was nuclear capable. It had a ~70 mile range and the warhead was allegedly between 10 and 20 kilotons. I visited a restored Nike site north of San Francisco this past Sunday, it was pretty neat. They have two missiles there, one a training dummy and one real but deactivated. The doors and elevator are working, but the erectors are not. Maybe next year. It was interesting to finally see what one of those places looks like with the lights on... Then there was the Nike Zeus, renamed the Spartan. It was of course also nuclear capable, but was not an anti-aircraft missile. --- Jef Jef Poskanzer pokey@well.sf.ca.us {ucbvax, apple, hplabs}!well!pokey "The most simple surrealist act consists of going down into the street, revolvers in hand, and shooting at random, as much as one can, into the crowd." -- Andre Breton
nagle@lll-crg.llnl.gov (John Nagle) (08/12/89)
From: well!nagle@lll-crg.llnl.gov (John Nagle)
Nike-Hercules was "nuclear capable". Since the Nike installations ringed
U.S. cities, the damage from blasts probably would have been considerable.
To what extent warheads were actually installed was classified at the time,
but is probably available information today. The system was dismantled around
1970, and the authority of air-defense commanders to authorize nuclear
release was revoked.
Nuclear-armed antiaircraft missiles looked much more attractive in
an era when air attack was expected at high altitude, rather than low.
John NagleGA.CJJ@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU (08/16/89)
From: GA.CJJ@Forsythe.Stanford.EDU > From: well!nagle@lll-crg.llnl.gov (John Nagle) > the authority of air-defense commanders to authorize nuclear > release was revoked. I don't believe this is a matter of public record. References?