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> And that's where I learned the phrase: "Pre-Boost Phase" — hit them in the silos. None of those systems appears to have borne fruit Other than ICBMs, of cour
by DuskStar 6y ago
> And that's where I learned the phrase: "Pre-Boost Phase" — hit them in the silos. None of those systems appears to have borne fruit
Other than ICBMs, of course. IIRC it took quite a few years for ICBMs to become robust and responsive enough to launch in response to an attack and have enough time to escape the kill radius of the incoming nukes. If it took 15 minutes to fuel, target and launch, and you have 10 minutes warning... Well, you'd better hope your bunkers and silos held up.
- aerostable_slug 6y agoNo, this was ICBMs, including SS-19 and SS-20 in their hardened silos. Pre-boost. Of course, the only way that works is if you use your devices preemptively. Hence you get the oh-shit realization that a technically sweet solution is politically destabilizing (given that any preemptive capability encourages the enemy to strike first). The same thing happened with some other systems, like a long-ranged stealthy cruise missle: it caused more problems than it would solve. At the end of the day, the problem is avoiding nuclear war, not winning it.