OK, why does adjustable yield make it so dangerous?
It adds hugely to credibility:
“This is a weapon the USA would be MUUUUUCH more likely to actually USE”.
Holocaust or Humiliation: NO.
It adds MANY choices.
Makes it much more tactical?
The adjustable yield means you can tailor the bomb much more finely to the target need:
Imagine you have submarine pens riiiight next to a major population center:
What would be nice is to take out those subs in one flash, but leave their populace intact.
That would mean after you do that, you could still deter him from striking YOUR pop center (like NYC or LA, maybe):
You didn’t hit THAT, right? You were working on a legit military target. So assuming some rationality on the part of the enemy, he’s not yet bound to go and do that.
So you’re in the escalation Driver’s Seat, see..?
That is how it would work with a Soviet, or maybe the PRC leadership.
An Iranian or Norker..? Ok, that might be a different can of worms, yes.
But the idea is you mow the law a bit before you take out the entire city, capiche..?
Dial-a-yield has been standard equipment on several U.S. nuclear weapons for decades.
For the same reason California thinks that an adjustable stock, flash hider, bayonet lug and pistol grip makes an AR-15 more dealier and scarier.
I as you find this odd. We have had adjustable yield bombs for thirty years. The only thing that could make this weapon more lethal is the ability to deliver with pinpoint accuracy and the distance it could release and still achieve this accuracy.
The closer to target the more ferocious is the defense. If you can release your bomb at greater distance an still hit the target the greater is the chance of success and the pilot returning home.
Why wouldn’t you always dial it to 11?
Fat Boy in North Korea is about to get a live demonstration
“OK, why does adjustable yield make it so dangerous?”
I had the same question. I’ll take a wild swing at an answer. From the author’s perspective nukes are too dangerous to use, period. If, however, you could adjust the nuke down to just being a really small nuke a loose cannon like Trump would be tempted to use nukes to take out, say, the thousands of cannons that North Korea has on the DMZ threatening the South. And, once you use nukes successfully, it will be the go-to weapon of choice for wild, unpredictable Republicans to wipe out all that they see as evil in the world. (uhm.../s)
The hyperbole in the article is a result of the author’s liberal world view.