Comments on: Modernized Nuclear Weapons

By: Slovenian Guest

Slovenian Guest — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 19:18:01 +0000

See: Tungsten flechette kinetic energy warheads With some concept art of optimal penetrators!

By: Scipio Americanus

Scipio Americanus — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 18:59:13 +0000

Yeah, the Prompt Global Strike concept isn’t a bad idea in and of itself (other than that you’d be surprised how many targets you can miss in that area with even thousands of rods – try calculating it out and you’ll see). The problem comes from the fact that it involves the launch of a ballistic missile, which tends to cause lots of early warning systems all over the world to start shrieking, and to send lots of panicked fingers wabbling towards certain buttons we’d all were rather not pressed.

By: Lu An Li

Lu An Li — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 16:45:20 +0000

That Quick Global Strike system [is that what it is called] using a hypersonic delivery vehicle will send thousands of tungsten rods on a near vertical downward trajectory toward a target at reentry velocity, each rod having twelve times the energy of a fifty caliber round. Within a radius of one mile all obliterated. Precision guided too. NO nuclear detonation required.

By: Scipio Americanus

Scipio Americanus — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 20:25:49 +0000

Yes, I am rather guilty about that. It’s been a rather busy few years. Also, I’ve always had the trouble that when I sit down to write something I am overcome with the certainty that someone else has said it better than I ever could.

By: Slovenian Guest

Slovenian Guest — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 15:22:18 +0000

Scipio, just fyi, your blog was last updated waaay back in February 2014! Maybe write something about liquid fluoride thorium reactors for your glorious return, akin to the molten lead cooled fast reactors post. Even if it's only half as good as Kirk Sorensen claims it to be, it would still be a game changer. I wonder why governments are not all in on thorium/LFTR. Any thoughts?

By: Scipio Americanus

Scipio Americanus — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 22:38:34 +0000

Sure they will. For one thing, the bottom of the dial-a-yield scale is still around 300-tons yield. That's very obviously non-conventional, even without the secondary effects. What this is good for is stuff like silo-busting or taking out other very hard targets with minimal collateral damage. If the force were modernized along these lines then the US' counterforce capabilities would be greatly magnified. All proceeds according to plan...

By: Slovenian Guest

Slovenian Guest — Mon, 18 Jan 2016 19:43:02 +0000

The best part is that dialed down, nobody will even recognize it as something nuclear, when it’s eventually used somewhere…