Stanislav Petrov, the man at the centre of the 1983 nuclear attack

>>35191583
Most likely they would have thought this was an attempted decapitation strike on Moscow, capitalizing (heh) on the assumption that a "true" strike would involve everything being launched. (See Pearl Harbor)

Seems like Vasili Arkhipov is the more appropriate person for "dude who literally prevented WWIII", but nice to see that in Petrov's case they had multiple levels for that.

>>35191640
Except a decapitation strike would be suicide without also expending thousands of weapons to destroy the USSR's ICBM arsenal.

If you're going to decapitate the enemy you may as well go all in and get the rest of your targets.

>>35191583
I vaguely remember him saying that if he knew how a NATO strike would play out he would've authorized a launch, but that might be me misinterpreting like a dumb gorilla

>>35191583
Knowing the world we live in today with the leaders we have(and one in particular who shall not be named) this world would have been objectively better if he decided on a counter-launch and started a nuclear war.

>>35191583

Unfortunately Oppenheimer seems to have left us. I'm a sad excuse for a substitute, but if you want to talk the engineering behind nukes I could offer some insight. I obviously can't comment on strategy or implementation of nuclear war however, which was his specialty.

>>35192424
Did he leave again recently?

>>35192475
Since I've been here I've never seen him post, and that is sporadically but for over a year now.

>>35192519
Then you're blind. He was here only a week or so ago.

>>35192519
I recall seeing him in threads relating to NK recently.

Anyway I suppose I have some questions for you then.

FOGBANK, What is it and what is it's role in a nuclear weapon?

>>35192558
Well fuck. Anyone have a link? I love Oppenheimer threads.

>>35192560
Based on my reading of the Wikipedia article it is a material which, upon the initial fusion reaction, is superheated and creates a plasma. A superheated plasma is necessary to sustain a fusion reaction, which generates the majority of the energy in most modern warheads.

So it works kinda like a catalyst. Given how hush hush everything is I don't have enough information to come up with more.

>>35192560
Foam on the inner surface of the radiation case designed to reduce explosive ablation and outwards acceleration of the case long enough for the secondary to compress.

>>35192587
No it doesn't. Plasma as a method of secondary compression has been pretty thoroughly debunked.

The secondary is compressed through ablation of the tamper.

>>35192603
Really? Go on. Given that it's beryllium doped, and beryllium is a neutron moderator, it seems very likely to me that it serves some role in aiding the reaction. Further reading suggests that it is used to transfer energy from the primary reaction to the secondary, which supports my theory about it being superheated and creating an environment for the fusion reaction.

Of course my sources are Wikipedia for the specifics about FOGBANK, but I could dig up my fusion textbook if you want. What's your source?

>>35192642
Given aerogel's low density it's doubtful it would make for a useful moderator.

If you go to the wikipedia page on nuclear weapons design there's a section that discuss the rough calculations for radiation pressure vs plasma pressure vs ablation for secondary compression. Ablation is greater than an order of magnitude more effective.

>>35191976
Millennial defeatism is the most annoying philosophy in the world

>>35192587
You don't know jack shit

>>35191976
God shut the fuck up you fucking faggot shit faggot I'll whoop your little faggy cunt bitch punk ass when I see you.

>>35192751
is delusion a better alternative?

>>35191833
Oppenheimer said that the Russians can't launch their nukes without authorisation from the Kremlin. Take out Moscow, take out Russia.

>>35193570
i.e. Oppenheimer is an idiot who should be ashamed of himself.

>>35193574
It's the same for America. If Washington was vaporised right now, who gives the order for a counter attack? It would be chaos, Russia could invade or follow up with more ICBMs and we couldn't do anything. Our subs and silos couldn't get the launch codes even if they new DC was gone.

>>35193570
They'll have a chain of succession. The Russians wouldn't allow their nation's deterrence to be subverted so easily.

>>35191976
T. Cuck who thought it was her turn.

>>35193604
>>35193605
in the us i think even the education cabinet could push the button if everyone higher is incapacitated

>>35193647
and 1 of the authorized people is always airborne and there are limits on their proximty so everyone cant be taken out

>>35193431
If the end result is continued survival of sapient life then yes.

>>35193604
TACAMO you useless piece of fuck

>>35191583

You have no fucking idea how paranoid the Soviet leadership was going into the 80s.

They genuinely believed an invasion by NATO nations was on the horizon decisions going on that. For example there were incidents where NATO wargame exercises (that the USSR had been made aware of through communique) caused a full panic among leadership, leading to troop buildups along borders and strategic points. The idea of NATO making an out of the blue first strike and pushing an offensive into the Soviet Union seems pretty unlikely today but was considered a very real threat by the USSR.

To them what appeared to be an attempt at a 'sneaky' first strike may very well have caused them to retaliate. I can't emphasize enough how on edge the Soviet leadership was during the last decade of the USSR.

>>35193431
>Implying you're not a deluded elitist toolbag

>>35191583
>I suspect a real out-of-the-blue attack would not start with a few ICBMs launched from the US but instead would start with attacks on radars and other c&c from SLBMs and possibly Pershing 2s.
Probably. But there is a tactic to detonate a single warhead above the horizon in front of an EW radar to blind it.
After this, the main strike comes. The idea is that you could prevent your opponent from knowing the nature of your attack until it is all over, gambling that the shorten reaction time (due to the loss of EW) and ambiguity give you an opportunity to pull off an effective first strike.

Of course, the opponent could just launch right when the first weapon goes off, unless Petrov is in charge.


>>35191693
Agreed.

>>35191976
Good lord. You know you have to be 18 to post here, right?


>>35192424
>Unfortunately Oppenheimer seems to have left us.
He pops in every now and then.

>>35192560
But not when we talk about this.


>>35193574
The Russian C2 system needs something the US system does not. In order for the leadership to access the Kazbek terminals, the Russian attack warning system must have generated an "attack warning" signal. Without this signal, the terminals can not be accessed.
If the terminals are destroyed, then it would be very difficult/impossible to issue launch orders to Russian nuclear forces.

Destroying all the terminals is next to impossible itself, but disrupting the communications links between terminals and deployed forces can be effective.

>>35193647
>>35193605

This is correct, but there are features in the Russian command and control system that are not present in the US system, as described above.


>>35193659
Only as long as a new President was found.