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I mean, 10KT is a tiny explosion for modern nuclear weapons. You really only hit that by intentionally dampening the explosion with "dial a yield" weapons. A

I mean, 10KT is a tiny explosion for modern nuclear weapons. You really only hit that by intentionally dampening the explosion with "dial a yield" weapons. A better representation would be the W88 at 475KT. That's what's currently used in the Trident SLBMs. And remember that this is an MIRV system with 8 warheads per missile. Yes, the idea is that some of those will be intercepted, but at the end of the day that's still almost 5MT of explosive power per missile dropping down on your city. Edit: for reference Little Boy and Fat Man were in the 15KT to 20KT range, and for comparison to a modern conflict, about ~50KT of conventional bombs have been dropped on Gaza in the 2023 Israel-Hamas war so far.

dabluecaboose 2y ago
> 10KT is a tiny explosion for modern nuclear weapons. Agreed, but it was the reference I had on hand. > And remember that this is an MIRV system with 8 warheads per missile. Yes, the idea is that some of those will be intercepted, but at the end of the day that's still almost 5MT of explosive power per missile dropping down on your city. MIRVs generally aren't dropping 8 identical bombs on one target. Each warhead is independently targeted, as per the acronym.
- monocasa 2y ago
  The point of an MIRV system is flexibility. Yes, smaller targets might get one RV. But larger targets (the 'cities' under discussion here) are allocated whole missiles as a "cluster" as (due to the inverse square law) it's more effective to have multiple middle of the road warheads (in the 0.5MT range) than the single multiple MT warheads when you look at if from the perspective of damage over surface area.
  - dabluecaboose 2y ago
    If the target itself is the City itself, then no arguments at all. This is however assuming we're at the "Counter-Value" stage of conflict and past "Counter-Force", so ostensibly you shouldn't be taken by surprise by nuclear bombs falling anyway. I appreciate your comments, it's always refreshing to have an actual discussion about these topics rather than uninformed fearmongering.

dabluecaboose 2y ago

> 10KT is a tiny explosion for modern nuclear weapons. Agreed, but it was the reference I had on hand. > And remember that this is an MIRV system with 8 warheads per missile. Yes, the idea is that some of those will be intercepted, but at the end of the day that's still almost 5MT of explosive power per missile dropping down on your city. MIRVs generally aren't dropping 8 identical bombs on one target. Each warhead is independently targeted, as per the acronym.

monocasa 2y ago
The point of an MIRV system is flexibility. Yes, smaller targets might get one RV. But larger targets (the 'cities' under discussion here) are allocated whole missiles as a "cluster" as (due to the inverse square law) it's more effective to have multiple middle of the road warheads (in the 0.5MT range) than the single multiple MT warheads when you look at if from the perspective of damage over surface area.
- dabluecaboose 2y ago
  If the target itself is the City itself, then no arguments at all. This is however assuming we're at the "Counter-Value" stage of conflict and past "Counter-Force", so ostensibly you shouldn't be taken by surprise by nuclear bombs falling anyway. I appreciate your comments, it's always refreshing to have an actual discussion about these topics rather than uninformed fearmongering.