[TravelerKai]

(08-03-2016 03:41 AM)Diogenes Wrote:  

(08-02-2016 11:04 PM)Sp5 Wrote:  

What we all need to do is reduce arsenals so that the human race is not wiped out. No reason to have 5,000 warheads. The Chinese are surprisingly restrained and wise in this regard with "only" 260 estimated. Certainly enough to deter an attack though.

You need a large enough arsenal to still be able to deliver a retaliatory strike even after being struck first, taking into account any anti-missile defences the enemy might possess. Otherwise the enemy might be able to obliterate you with a first strike while taking minimal damage themselves.

Something many do not take into account are the satellites affiliated with missile defense. Some might have payloads inside them, but a war up there might precede or be launched simultaneously with ground and nuclear sub strikes.

This is a really big subject, but all in all, it will come down to both missile defense systems hitting their targets on time. In regard to MIRV style systems, all the warheads are the major problem.



Staged missiles like the one in this photo, are very hard to defend against. They do not need to get too close to break apart. Even if the Navy/Air Force intercepted 5 or so, if 3 others slip by, it's still catastrophic. This is where satellite defense also plays a part as well as the 4 F22s in the air at all times (One for each quadrant of the Earth). This is the reason why no one takes North Korea very seriously. If they were trying to make something like this, a war with them is almost guaranteed. A 17 million man army is nothing compared to a legit MIRV capability. That Army could get starved out or tactically nuked, but a MIRV? No way.

War game rehearsals for this look decent or sometimes good on paper on computers, but the truth is that it probably won't be enough. Heck our systems do not even have the range the S500s have.

Then there are subs. Our own USS Texas can hit any place in the world with it's nukes, no matter where in the ocean it is located, in minutes. I don't know exactly what the Russians have on that front, but hitting those has to be different than ground launches from known locations.

Despite issues, mankind has a good thing going right now. To fuck it up now just isn't right. Even if one side has an advantage, the damage alone isn't worth it at all. Like XPQ posted, several detonations in the right place would damage the planet. So even if we did not get hit or got hit once but hit them 10-20 times, that still ass fucks the planet. The international community would be pissed and rightfully so. It would ruin the world economy immediately and ruin everyone's quality of life for decades.