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U.S. deploys 'more survivable' submarine-launched low-yield nuclear weapon
reuters.com ^ | February 4, 2020 | Reuters

Posted on 02/04/2020 3:32:29 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper

The U.S. Defense Department said on Tuesday the Navy had fielded a low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic missile warhead, something the Pentagon believes is needed to deter adversaries like Russia but which critics say lowers the threshold for using nuclear weapons.

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
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To: Berlin_Freeper
Here is a whole book that supports my assertions -

See p. XII

21 posted on 02/04/2020 4:57:37 PM PST by AndyJackson
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To: AndyJackson

I’ll note you FAIL to post a single quote from the article we are discussing.

The problems you have are:
1. Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit.
2. Submarines can be hunted too.
3. Why the bother with “low yields” at all? Because submarines... something or something?


22 posted on 02/04/2020 4:59:45 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper

Read the book, then get back to us.


23 posted on 02/04/2020 5:01:12 PM PST by AndyJackson
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To: Berlin_Freeper

And like I said, P XII is a good place to start. You can learn even more by searching on “low-yield.”


24 posted on 02/04/2020 5:02:42 PM PST by AndyJackson
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To: AndyJackson

Be a good boy and read the article we are discussing.


25 posted on 02/04/2020 5:04:24 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: AndyJackson

Yea I will search “low yield”...
Why then are we only putting them on subs now?


26 posted on 02/04/2020 5:09:06 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: AndyJackson

You are actually a good example of why I post articles without a comment.


27 posted on 02/04/2020 5:11:44 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Berlin_Freeper
Why then are we only putting them on subs now?

We are putting them on subs because the selected warhead, the W76, is only used in SLBM's. It was a really cheap way of adding this “escalate to deescalate” doctrine. It also keeps our tactical nukes off the "battlefield" where they are at risk of capture, off of aircraft that could be shot down, and keeps the firing chain at the Commander in Chief level. Sure, a sub could be hunted, but that same sub already carries 2 dozen Trident missiles, so you are just changing the mission of a couple of those.

28 posted on 02/04/2020 5:48:45 PM PST by ETCM
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To: ETCM

And we are doing this now because Russian doctrine has changed in the face of overwhelming conventional superiority. The Russian economy really cannot support maintaining conventional parity with us. Some US actions in the past have also probably heightened their paranoia, but that is another subject. Cf. Pat Buchanan on this subject.


29 posted on 02/04/2020 6:06:22 PM PST by AndyJackson
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To: AndyJackson

Be careful or he’ll ping Jim Robinson and try to have you banned for not agreeing with him or trolling him. Making him look ignorant for not commenting on the article the little snowflake posted.


30 posted on 02/04/2020 8:37:23 PM PST by lewislynn (STOP SUPPORTING CHINA AND ANTI-AMERICAN GLOBALISTS! DO IT NOW!)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

I’m assuming it’s not very survivable at ground zero. It might be useful against crazy regimes with nuclear ambitions at sites a reasonable distance from population centers.


31 posted on 02/04/2020 10:07:02 PM PST by Crucial
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To: AndyJackson
And we are doing this now because Russian doctrine has changed in the face of overwhelming conventional superiority.

Exactly. And we were in a position where we would have been unable to answer the use of tactical nuclear weapons by Russia without massive escalation to strategic weapons and all out nuclear war. These warheads prevent Russia from using theirs, and give us a "usable nuclear weapon" in special cases like responding to chemical or biological attacks that don't require 100KT or 475 KT retaliation.

32 posted on 02/04/2020 10:26:41 PM PST by ETCM
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To: ETCM

We are using them now because of further destructive options where we can nuke a force without having to kill everyone around.


33 posted on 02/04/2020 11:43:37 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: lewislynn; Jim Robinson
lewslynn: Be careful or he’ll ping Jim Robinson and try to have you banned for not agreeing with him or trolling him. Making him look ignorant for not commenting on the article the little snowflake posted.
JR, you see it is not my feud and how much lewislynn respects your instructions to stop personal attacks on your forum:
JR: Your feuds are getting old. Give it a rest.
My web search says 42 days passed. Could be shorter since lewislynn didn't ping me.
34 posted on 02/04/2020 11:55:48 PM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Crucial

A reasonable assumption.


35 posted on 02/05/2020 12:01:05 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: Crucial
"It might be useful against crazy regimes with nuclear ambitions at sites a reasonable distance from population centers."

Or known terrorist bases with same vector.

36 posted on 02/05/2020 12:14:05 AM PST by StAnDeliver (CNN's Dana B: "Show of hands: Coverage for undocumented immigrants?" ***all Democrat hands raised***)
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To: Berlin_Freeper

In the old days we called weapons like this “urban renewal” tools. Small nukes should be used in the jungles of Africa to take out Boko Harum camps, the new Fulani genocidal islamists of Nigeria, some Taliban major villages and towns, and any Al Shabaab sites in Somalia, Kenya, etc.

A couple little kiloton boomers would do the job and not really hurt the environment other than to make some green glass and jungle salad au flambeau.


37 posted on 02/05/2020 12:29:50 AM PST by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper

And now we are deploying boomers with an eye at Russia because they may see an advantage of hitting in a limited attack, but now we have an answer for such a scenario. Which means it is less likely to happen.


38 posted on 02/05/2020 12:35:07 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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To: All
Another article:
US deploys submarine-launched low-yield nuke

The administration argues the warhead is necessary to deter Russia.

Moscow, the argument goes, might have miscalculated that the United States was unwilling to use its nuclear weapons in response to a Russian low-yield nuclear strike because the existing U.S. weapons were too powerful.

U.S. weapons were too powerful = less survivable
39 posted on 02/05/2020 12:49:12 AM PST by Berlin_Freeper
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