Almost the entire value of strategic nuclear weapons is deterrence; a well-known paradox is that they are useless - or really much worse than useless - for actu

Almost the entire value of strategic nuclear weapons is deterrence; a well-known paradox is that they are useless - or really much worse than useless - for actual employment. Lots of failed tests would seem to reduce the effectiveness of deterrence: enemies might think you can't actually employ it. Obviously it's very important to test, but it's also very important to ultimately have a convincing success story.