Questions tagged [nuclear-weapons]
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from splitting atoms. Because the long-lived nuclear material used is then spread into the surrounding area, it is considered the most devastating weapon of war known to mankind. Use this tag to discuss the politics of obtaining them and using them in diplomacy
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Does launch on warning assume incoming ICBMs carry nuclear warheads?
The launch on warning doctrine holds that:
a retaliatory strike is launched upon warning of enemy nuclear attack and while its missiles are still in the air, before detonation occurs
Although it is ...
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Did only China oppose Indian membership in Nuclear suppliers group in May 2016 or did joint countries?
It was in May 2016 that India formally applied for the NSG(Nuclear
Suppliers Group ) membership but was denied the membership as a
joint decision by the other countries.
Source: byjus.com
At the ...
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Why do Western countries seem to think Russia would rather be defeated than use nuclear weapons?
Latest example: UK urges China to prevent its companies supporting Russia's military.
Suppose China stops its companies from supporting Russia's military. The UK's desired outcome appears to be:
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Russia's Nuclear Missile Locations and International Relations [closed]
What publicly available information exists about the current locations of Russia's nuclear missiles, and how has this information influenced recent international relations or treaties?
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What would a tactical nuke strike actually look like? [closed]
When the conversations about a possible tactical nuke strike by Russia on Ukraine go, I usually see the headline threats by Putin or some other top officials. The rest is basically "this would ...
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Is there any treaty that forbids the use of nuclear weapons in open air?
May 29 (Reuters) - A senior member of a Russian think tank whose ideas
sometimes become government policy has suggested Moscow consider a
"demonstrative" nuclear explosion to cow the West ...
user28660
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Is a tactical nuclear strike against a military target different on a legal standpoint than a tactical nuclear strike against a civilian target?
Putin has faced calls inside Russia from some hardliners to change
Russia's nuclear doctrine, which sets out the conditions under which
Russia would use a nuclear weapon, though Putin said last year ...
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How does Russia exactly define Russian territory in its state policy?
These Basic Principles represent a strategic planning document in the area of ensuring defence and reflect the official view on the
essence of nuclear deterrence, identify military risks and threats ...
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Has Trump expressed any opinion about US allies like Germany, Japan, or South Korea getting their own nuclear weapons?
Opinion in other US allies may be lowers on this, but
A poll published in May by the conservative Asan Institute for Policy Studies suggested that more than 70% of South Koreans support their country ...
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How can the US prevent Russia from deploying nukes in orbit/space without starting WW3?
NYT reported on Feb 14:
Officials said that the new intelligence, which they did not describe in detail, raised serious questions about whether Russia was preparing to abandon the Outer Space Treaty ...
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MAD fails to account for a clash of civilisations - why would a state doomed by a first strike NOT retaliate? [closed]
I am too new to answer peoples questions, so I decided to post my own to frame the problem a different way. People assume that nuclear states hold nuclear weapons only to deter intimidation from other ...
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Why would a state retaliate to a nuclear strike if the consequences could be human extinction?
The entire mutually-assured destruction (MAD) concept is based on game theory and mutual belief.
Suppose we have two states (A and B) with massive nuclear arsenals which together suffice to plunge the ...
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Threats by MRBMs / IRBMs in the 1960s and now
Graham T. Allison explains in Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis:
First, consider the brute facts. For a combination of technical and budgetary reasons, the Soviet government ...
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Why did the US support of Israel shift so dramatically?
From what I remember reading, during the Kennedy administration, the US considered bombing or taking over Israel's suspected nuclear development sites. However, now, many people and both major parties ...
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Is "Mutually Assured Destruction" still valid considering so many conventional missiles are currently getting shot down?
Apologies if this is posted in the wrong place, but I couldn't find "military" stack exchange so this site appears to be the closest.
While following the current Russia/Ukraine war, it ...
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Is there any international law that prohibits the use of nuclear weapon against another country?
Since around 2018, Chinese experts have concluded that Washington’s
nuclear posture now poses increasing challenges to China’s deterrent.
In particular, they have been concerned about shifts in U.S. ...
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To what extent could India, Pakistan, China, France, and/or the UK individually destroy the U.S. and/or Russia with their nukes if it came to that? [closed]
Some of these match-ups are obviously highly implausible such as France vs. the U.S. (well, they did rename their fries once...). Others are not completely improbable, such as China vs. the U.S. or ...
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About N. Korea's Nukes and Delivery Systems
Sorry if this question is inappropriate for this SE or perhaps too technical but it is frankly a genuine concern for me.
Basically, the question is, how much should the claims of NK be believed? My ...
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How would a neutral observer compare the presence of US nukes in Europe to the presence of Russian nukes in Belarus?
USA in Germany
Germany has no nuclear weapons of its own, but it stores 20 or fewer U.S. B-61 nuclear gravity bombs at Büchel air base, and maintains a fleet of aging Tornado fighter bombers to ...
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Why is deploying nuclear weapons in Belarus seen as a problem, and how would this help Russia?
Recently (May 2023) Russia decided to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus. This has been reported in many sources. At least Russia represents this as a serious escalation, something that they were "...
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Depleted uranium shells in the Russian nuclear doctrine
According to the current nuclear doctrine of Russia, is the transfer/usage of shells containing depleted uranium considered as a nuclear attack on Russia? Technologically, can it be considered as a ...
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Can the monarch prevent any Commonwealth realm from declaring war or launching a sanctioned military attack?
The USA requires that the president orders a (lawful) nuclear strike.
The United Kingdom requires that the Prime Minister orders a (lawful) nuclear strike, although the Chief of the Defence Staff ...
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What does Corbyn mean by "can't we go back to when Ukraine was a nuclear-free country!?"?
In a talk show (apparently on BBC One) Corbyn said "Can't we go back to the point when Ukraine was a nuclear-free country?"
I'm at a loss as to what he means by that. Is he talking about ...
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Making sense of a vote about Israel and nuclear weapons at the UNGA
Israel must get rid of its nuclear weapons, UNGA majority decides
Why did this voting take place? Did Egypt submit proof of Israel having nuclear weapons before proposing this vote?
Why voted ...
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What effects can the nuclear attack on a non-nuclear country have on the deterrence and nonproliferation?
The media occasionally mentions the possibility of the Russian Federation using a tactical nuclear bomb in Ukraine. The last and only case like that was back in August 1945, and after the Soviet Union ...
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Could the Russian Federation really have tested a nuclear weapon without anyone noticing? [closed]
In an interview with Kurbanova Live, Russian blogger and a former political scientist Valery Solovei has made the claim that the Russian Federation has performed a test of a nuclear weapon on November ...
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What is the logic behind Putin's nuclear mobilization? [closed]
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-nuclear-weapons-train-video/
https://nypost.com/2022/10/03/putin-deploys-worlds-largest-submarine-nuclear-convoy/
Putin is mobilizing his strategic nuclear weapons ...
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Vital US interests: how are they defined and are they different between Republicans and Democrats?
In March 2022, the White House declared the ultimate goals of the DoD in their National Defense Strategy (NDS).
I did not read it, because as far as I know it is still classified, but I found ...
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How is the Chinese officialdom, press, or intelligentsia discussing Russia's possible use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war?
It's certainly known that the Chinese press and officials have openly blamed NATO and the USA more specifically for the war in Ukraine.
On the other hand, China officially has a "no first use&...
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Has NATO recently threatened to nuke Russia?
In his 2022-09-21 speech (archived copy with https here), Putin referred to
statements made by some high-ranking representatives of the leading NATO countries on the possibility and admissibility of ...
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Vagueness rather than specificity when the risks are enormous
Summary
(Sep 27, 2022) Threats of nuclear retaliation are easily the most complicated political issues. In time historians might decide that Feb 24, 2022 was the launching date of WW3. In this ...
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What is the limit of the weapons that President Biden can authorize sending to Ukraine?
President Biden announced that he will not send combat troops to fight in Ukraine.
That he does not want to have US armed men in the line of fire means that he also would not want to put US civilians ...
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Does the fact that China owns nuclear weapon improve the status of Chinese expat? [closed]
According to Chinese government propaganda, it is because of the development and deployment of nuclear weapons that the status of Chinese ex-pats is no longer discriminated against by anyone else. Are ...
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Is the concept of MAD becoming obsolete? [closed]
Is the concept of MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_assured_destruction less applicable today compared to say 40 years ago as seen by the West? My contention is ...
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Has there been publically shown any evidence that the Russian Federation has nuclear bunkers capable of preventing "decapitation?"
In light of the full-scale unprovoked war of aggression that the Russian Federation has waged against Ukraine, a number of countries have been providing military assistance to Ukraine.
The aggressor ...
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Would mutually assured destruction help or hinder occupation of minor, non-nuclear countries?
Assume the following hypothetical scenario:
There are only three relevant nations, two large ones (A, B) both with nuclear weapons sufficient to destroy everyone (MAD) and a smaller one without ...
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Does Japan have the capability of manufacturing nuclear weapons in a short period of time?
I read from here that
Japan does not possess any programs for the development of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), but it is the only non-nuclear weapon state in possession of a full nuclear fuel ...
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Would a (nuclear) strike that hits an NATO member state embassy/extraterritoriality in Ukraine be considered a (nuclear) strike against NATO?
The NATO website has an article about Collective defence - Article 5 which reads
The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an ...
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Why are Nuclear weapons exceptionally feared? [closed]
It has been general cultural knowledge since the US developed and dropped nuclear weapons in Japan that nuclear weapons are different to others, and a war with two similarly armed nuclear arsenals ...
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Does a policy of mutually assured destruction favor rogue states?
I wondered if a policy of mutually assured destruction favors rogue states.
I think it is fair to assume that a rogue nuclear state would have less regard for its people and their life and wellbeing ...
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Why doesn't any nuclear power country which is supporting Ukraine hand them a Nuclear Bomb?
Some 25 nations were on the call and all said they would continue to contribute aid, some saying for the first time their support will include lethal assistance. NATO was also represented.
In addition,...
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What are the actual implications of MAD? [closed]
Many people are against western intervention in Ukraine due to MAD (mutually assured destruction). But what does MAD actually mean? Is it just a war that would kill a lot of people? Or is it genuinely,...
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Why were India and Pakistan sanctioned in 1998 for nuclear tests?
According to the Peaceful Nuclear Explosion Treaty, individual nuclear tests were banned beyond 150 kilotons, and group explosions were limited to 1500 kilotons.
In 1998, both Pakistan and Indian ...
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What would be the worldwide response if Russia launches a nuke into Ukraine? [closed]
As NATO would not be directly involved, Article 5 would not be invoked. However, I presume a nuclear launch at Ukraine by Russia wouldn't go without a response. What (if any) international agreements (...
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Are there any checks and balances against nuclear escalation in Russia?
During the Trump years, there was conversation about nuclear command and control in the U.S. and the military's response to a rogue presidential nuclear strike order. Specifically, the question ...
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If Russia drops a nuclear bomb, is it realistically possible to prevent neutralize it without getting serious damage? [closed]
By "serious damage" I mean any kind of severe environmental damage and/or damage to the people health/life. I understand that there's a tiny probability for that to happen, but just in case, ...
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What does it mean for Russia to put its nuclear deterrence forces on ‘high alert’?
As can be read in various sources, for example The Guardian, Russia has put its ‘nuclear deterrence forces’ on high alert.
What does that even mean? Isn’t the point of Mutually Assured Destruction (...
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If Belarus allows deployment of Russian nuclear weapons on its territory (as Macron claims) would that violate any commitments Belarus has undertaken?
News is that:
French President Emmanuel Macron has asked his Belarus counterpart to demand that the country, Ukraine’s neighbor, quickly order Russian troops to leave, claiming Moscow has been given ...
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Why is Russia not using nuclear weapons against Ukraine?
Russia is suffering from the cost of war in both blood, money, and resources. The sanctions hurts their economy and the international condemnation hurts their reputation and pride. All of this will ...
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Has any nuclear-protected country been under any significant attack by another country's military forces?
Countries can have nuclear weapons of their own (e.g. Russia, US) or be protected by them through alliances (e.g. Baltic states via NATO, Belarus via Collective Security Treaty Organization, Warsaw ...
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