Posted on 08/10/2017 4:39:45 PM PDT by OKSooner
A nuke detonated on or near the ground produces a lot of radioactive fallout, as the vaporized dirt, etc., condenses and falls back to earth. Exposure to fallout can lead to serious radiation sickness and/or death. (The bigger the bomb, the more serious the fallout.)
Detonating the device a few thousand feet in the air results in more widespread thermal effect coverage and more severe blast as the shock wave bounces off the ground and combines with the initial wave. (Again, the bigger the bomb ...)
Bottom line ... both detonation styles suck, for different reasons.
Are you “Asking for a friend?”
No links. It was quite a while ago.
Our enemies know their actions will be traceable and their bloodlines will be spilt and extinguished permanently with our CINC. So go for it, punks.
Curious. I seem to recall NK has 2 satellites which pass over the east and west coasts of the US respectively. If NK had successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead, wouldn’t the sats provide an ideal platform for an EMP attack?
Of course, Kim could always light one or both of the nukes he sent into orbit 2 or 3 years ago. EMP over Europe and/or central North America would be a hoot.
[It’s open sourced information. No one’s talking about it.]
Who says they have to be delivered at all?
They could just blow them up in space.
Actually atomic bombs do have a return address on them. The radioactive elements in the bomb are specific to reactors that produced the fissil fuel. We would know who made the bomb rather quickly as in days. However, that is somewhat academic as North Korea would have been reduced to a smoldering ruin even before we had the results.
Now China says it will defend NK if we hit first.
Even a dirty nuke?
Not certain but I think so...
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