Nuclear Weapons Delivery: Strategies Tactics and Technologies in Modern Warfare

By Fouad Sabry

What is Nuclear Weapons Delivery

Nuclear weapons delivery is the technology and systems used to place a nuclear weapon at the position of detonation, on or near its target. Several methods have been developed to carry out this task.

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Nuclear weapons delivery

Chapter 2: Intercontinental ballistic missile

Chapter 3: Missile

Chapter 4: UGM-27 Polaris

Chapter 5: Ballistic missile

Chapter 6: First strike (nuclear strategy)

Chapter 7: LGM-30 Minuteman

Chapter 8: Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle

Chapter 9: Submarine-launched ballistic missile

Chapter 10: LGM-118 Peacekeeper

(II) Answering the public top questions about nuclear weapons delivery.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of Nuclear Weapons Delivery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: Jun 19, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Nuclear weapons delivery

The term nuclear weapons delivery refers to the technologies and methods that are utilized in order to position a nuclear weapon onto or in close proximity to its target in order to detonate it. There have been a number of approaches developed in order to accomplish this job.

Threatening big targets, such as cities, is the primary function of strategic nuclear weapons, which are employed largely as a component of a doctrine of deterrence. The term tactical nuclear weapons refers to weapons that are designed to be utilized in limited military maneuvers, such as the destruction of specified military, communications, or infrastructure targets in a specific location. With regard to explosive yields, the former have a significantly bigger yield than the latter in the present day, despite the fact that this is not a norm. When employed strategically, the bombs that were responsible for the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 (with TNT equivalents ranging from 15 to 22 kilotons) were less powerful than many of the tactical weapons that are used today; yet, they were still able to achieve the desired impact.

A strategic nuclear armament is referred to as a nuclear triad. This type of arsenal is comprised of three components: intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and strategic bombers, which are traditionally used for strategic purposes. It is the goal of having a nuclear capacity that is comprised of three branches to considerably lower the likelihood that an adversary could destroy all of a nation's nuclear forces in a first-strike attack. This, in turn, provides a credible threat of a second strike, which in turn strengthens a nation's nuclear deterrence.

One of the first methods of delivery in the history of nuclear weapons was a gravity bomb that was dropped from an airplane. This approach was also used in the only two nuclear weapons that were actually used in combat. In the years leading up to the development and deployment of nuclear-armed missiles, nuclear bombs represented the most practical means of nuclear weapons delivery; even today, and especially with the decommissioning of nuclear missiles, aerial bombing remains the primary means of offensive nuclear weapons delivery, and the majority of US nuclear warheads are represented in bombs, although some are in the form of missiles.

Gravity bombs are designed to be dropped from aircraft, which necessitates that the weapon be able to endure vibrations as well as changes in air temperature and pressure that occur during the course of a flight. In early weapons, a removable core for safety was frequently used. These cores were referred to as in flight insertion (IFI) cores, and they were inserted or assembled by the air crew while the weapon was in flight. For the purpose of preventing accidental detonation or falling, they were required to meet safety conditions. In order to set off the explosion, a number of different types were required to have a fuse. The letter B is used to indicate nuclear weapons from the United States that have satisfied certain conditions. This is followed by the sequential number of the physics package that the weapon possesses, without a hyphen. To give just one example, the B61 was the premier bomb in the United States arsenal for several decades.

Toss bombing, parachute-retarded delivery, and laydown modes are some of the air-dropping techniques that are available. These approaches are designed to provide the dropping aircraft with sufficient time to maneuver away from the subsequent explosion.

During the time period in which the United States developed its first gravity nuclear bombs, known as Little Boy and Fat Man, the one and only aircraft capable of transporting these bombs was the unique Silverplate limited production version of the B-29 Superfortress, which had only produced 65 airframes by 1947. The next generation of weapons were still so large and heavy that they could only be carried by bombers. These bombers included the six- or ten-engined, seventy-meter wingspan B-36 Peacemaker, the eight jet-engined B-52 Stratofortress, and jet-powered British Royal Air Force V bombers. However, by the middle of the 1950s, smaller weapons had been developed that could be carried and deployed by fighter-bombers.

Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) are two examples of missiles that use a ballistic trajectory. These missiles typically transport a warhead over the horizon, often at distances of thousands of kilometers. At some point during their sub-orbital voyage, the majority of ballistic missiles leave the atmosphere of the Earth and then return to it.

Since 1967, the Outer Space Treaty has prohibited the deployment of nuclear weapons in low Earth orbit. This prohibition was established by the treaty. In addition, the Soviet Union's Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS), which was eventually developed to serve a similar function, was phased out in January 1983 in accordance with the SALT II deal. The FOBS was designed to deorbit before it completed a full round.

An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a type of missile that is more than twenty times faster than a bomber and more than ten times faster than a fighter plane. Additionally, it is flying at a significantly higher altitude, making it more difficult to defend against. In the case of an unexpected attack, intercontinental ballistic missiles are also capable of being fired rapidly.

The first ballistic missiles were equipped with a single warhead, which typically had a yield of one megaton. As a result of the restricted precision of the missiles, it was deemed vital to have a high yield of this kind in order to guarantee the destruction of a specific target. Since the 1970s, modern ballistic weapons have witnessed the development of targeting technologies that are significantly more accurate. This is primarily owing to the advancements that have been made in inertial guiding systems. This laid the groundwork for the development of smaller warheads with a range yield of hundreds of kilotons, and therefore for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that include multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRV). The advancement of technology has made it possible for a single missile to launch a payload that contains many warheads to be launched. There is a correlation between the weapons platform that a ballistic missile is launched from and the number of independent warheads that are capable of being deployed from the missile. MIRV has a lot of advantages over a missile that only carries one warhead, such as the fact that a single D5 Trident missile that is carried by an Ohio-class submarine is capable of launching eight independent warheads. The ability to strike many targets with a single missile, or to inflict maximum damage on a single target by attacking it with multiple warheads, is made possible by this capability, which comes with very minor additional expenditures. It makes anti-ballistic missile defense much more challenging, and it makes it even less economically viable than it was before.

The letter W is used to denote missile warheads in the United States arsenal. For instance, the W61 missile warhead would have the same physics package as the B61 gravity bomb described earlier. However, it would have different environmental requirements and different safety requirements due to the fact that it would not be crew-tended after launch and would remain atop a missile for a significant amount of time.

A cruise missile is a type of missile that is powered by a rocket or a jet engine and travels at a low altitude with the assistance of an automated guidance system. This system is often inertial navigation, although it may also be augmented by GPS or mid-course updates from friendly forces. The purpose of this system is to make the missiles more difficult to identify or intercept. It is possible for cruise missiles to carry a nuclear warhead. Their warheads are smaller and less potent than those of ballistic missiles because they have a shorter range and carry a smaller payload than ballistic missiles.

Currently, the air-launched cruise missile that is nuclear-armed and used by the United States Air Force is the AGM-86 ALCM. Only the B-52 Stratofortress, which has the capacity to carry twenty missiles, is capable of carrying the ALCM. It is therefore possible to draw parallels between cruise missiles and MIRV warheads. It is possible for the BGM/UGM-109 Tomahawk submarine-launched cruise missile to carry nuclear warheads; however, all nuclear warheads have been removed from the ballistic missile.

Along with being launched from naval vessels, cruise missiles can also be launched from mobile launchers located on the ground.

It is not possible to differentiate between the warheads of cruise missiles and those of ballistic missiles in the United States arsenal since there is no letter change.

For the aim of delivering nuclear strikes, cruise missiles have a variety of benefits over ballistic missiles, notwithstanding the fact that cruise missiles have a lesser payload than ballistic missiles:

The launch of a cruise missile is difficult to detect early via satellites and other long-range means, which contributes to the surprise factor of an assault.

These capabilities, in conjunction with the capability to actively maneuver while in flight, make it possible to penetrate strategic anti-missile systems that are designed to intercept ballistic missiles on a trajectory of flight that has been calculated.

For example, artillery shells, mines like the Medium Atomic Demolition Munition and the innovative Blue Peacock, nuclear depth charges, and nuclear torpedoes were some of the other ways of delivery. An 'Atomic Bazooka' was also deployed, which was intended to be used against huge formations of tanks.

The United States of America developed tiny nuclear warheads for use in air defense during the 1950s. One example of this is the Nike Hercules. There was a low-yield nuclear armed air-to-air rocket known as the AIR-2 Genie that was used by both the United States of America and Canada from the 1950s until the 1980s. Early anti-ballistic missiles were the result of further improvements of this concept, some of which featured warheads that were significantly larger. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, the United States of America has, for the most part, removed nuclear air-defense systems from service duty. In 1995, Russia upgraded its nuclear-armed