How many tactical nuclear warheads does the US have?

[rupol2000]

While there may be "missile defense", the quantity factor doesn't match the number of missiles that could be fired (with or without warheads, ie. decoys).

When this project was in force, Moscow said that it would paralyze its nuclear potential.

 

[Blues Man]

Probably 10 times as many as they'll ever admit to having

 

[Ringo]

 

[Soupnazi630]

How many tactical nuclear warheads does the US have?

I think that tactical nuclear weapons are the most in demand right now, because missile defense systems intercept strategic warheads.

Tactical nuclear missiles can be fired even from ordinary Himers, right? And a flight range of more than 500 km is enough to cover any territory.

It is most convenient to place them on submarines. And in the United States there are a lot of submarines.

Is there reliable data on US strategic nuclear warheads, how many of them are deployed and on what carriers?

None

Those types were done away with after Reagan got the intermediate arms treaty in place with the soviets.

Some strategic weapons may be used as a tactical weapon but the old dedicated tactical weapons are gone

 

[rupol2000]

None

Those types were done away with after Reagan got the intermediate arms treaty in place with the soviets.

Some strategic weapons may be used as a tactical weapon but the old dedicated tactical weapons are gone

Who's talking about the old ones? New tactical missiles are being made in the USA

 

[WinterBorn]

The USA phased out most of their tactical nuclear weapons. What's left is about 200 B61 gravity bombs, of which about 100 are forward-deployed to Europe (Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey.)

The US Army no longer has any artillery-based nuke systems, or any short-range missile systems with nukes.

The US Navy no longer mounts nukes on Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The US Navy still has ballistic missile subs. With a range of over 4,000 miles, they can reach out and touch the enemy.

 

[Soupnazi630]

The US Navy still has ballistic missile subs. With a range of over 4,000 miles, they can reach out and touch the enemy.

Those are strategic weapons not tactical.

 

[Silver Cat]

Who's talking about the old ones? New tactical missiles are being made in the USA

I wish they were. But no. Modern America hardly can produce brand new nukes at all.

 

[Silver Cat]

ROGERS APPLAUDS WORK OF STRATEGIC POSTURE COMMISSION


Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, released a statement thanking the hard work of the Bipartisan Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States.

“For the first time in history, the United States must deter two near-peer nuclear adversaries at the same time. The goal of the Strategic Posture Commission was to examine the long-term strategic posture of the United States. The results of their report detailed the gravity of the situation we face and emphasized that the current trajectory of the US nuclear deterrent is insufficient to deter the looming Chinese and Russian threat. I want to thank the commission for producing a clear-eyed, sobering, consensus report. The details of this report should serve as a wakeup call for our strategic posture – we need to rapidly make changes now if we want to deter tomorrow.”

Key takeaways from the report are as follows:


“The nuclear force modernization program of record (POR) is absolutely essential, although not sufficient to meet the new threats posed by Russia and China.”


“The current modernization program should be supplemented to ensure U.S. nuclear strategy remains effective in a two-nuclear-peer environment.”


“A number of commissioners believe it is inevitable that the size of the U.S. nuclear stockpile and the number of delivery systems should increase.”


“The size and composition of the nuclear force must account for the possibility of combined aggression from Russia and China. U.S. strategy should no longer treat China’s nuclear forces as a ‘lesser included’ threat. The United States needs a nuclear posture capable of simultaneously deterring both countries.”


“The U.S. theater nuclear force posture should be urgently modified to: Provide the President a range of militarily effective nuclear response options to deter or counter Russian or Chinese limited nuclear use in theater. Address the need for U.S. theater nuclear forces deployed or based in the Asia-Pacific theater.”


“The Commission recommends Congress fund an overhaul and expansion of the capacity of the U.S. nuclear weapons defense industrial base and the DOE/NNSA nuclear security enterprise, including weapons science, design, and production infrastructure. Specifically:` Congress should fund the full range of NNSA’s recapitalization efforts, such as pit production and all operations related to critical materials.”


“The United States develop and field homeland IAMD that can deter and defeat coercive attacks by Russia and China, and determine the capabilities needed to stay ahead of the North Korean threat.”


“The Commission’s assessment is that the United States must consider the possibility that Iran will become a nuclear state during the 2027-2035 timeframe.”


Auctioning the 3.1-3.45GHz band (of spectrum) risks impacting “various types of shipborne, land-based, and aeronautical mobile radar systems [used] for national defense purposes…We have many radars [in the 3.1-3.45 GHz segment] that are critical for our service members to train on before they deploy into harm’s way overseas, and also to protect our homeland . . . it would take us two decades and hundreds of billions of dollars to be able to refactor and move those radars out of there.”


The commission recommends “the United States urgently deploy a more resilient space architecture and adopt a strategy that includes both offensive and defensive elements to ensure U.S. access to and operations in space.”

 

[Silver Cat]

What about some music video?

 

[marvin martian]

How many tactical nuclear warheads does the US have?

I think that tactical nuclear weapons are the most in demand right now, because missile defense systems intercept strategic warheads.

Tactical nuclear missiles can be fired even from ordinary Himers, right? And a flight range of more than 500 km is enough to cover any territory.

It is most convenient to place them on submarines. And in the United States there are a lot of submarines.

Is there reliable data on US strategic nuclear warheads, how many of them are deployed and on what carriers?

^^^Sino-Soviet agent trying the most obvious trick first.

 

[Silver Cat]

Who's talking about the old ones? New tactical missiles are being made in the USA

No. The modern US economy just can't produce something like new nuclear missiles. The only thing we can do - just to attach JDAM kits to old gravity bombs.

And gravity bombs (as Ukrainian conflict clearly demonstrated) isn't something that can be useful against more or less modern army.

So, in a matter of fact, the United States have no tactical nukes at all.

 

[Silver Cat]

Another question is how many tactical nukes do we need? Right now we have 400 nuclear gravity bombs and only 180 of them are in Europe. It's not enough even for a limited frontal offense of Ukrainian Army with a limited goal of, say, cutting of the Russian "land corridor" to Crimea. Such operation needs some 600 nukes successfully delivered to their targets (but, of course,it wouldn't mean strategic defeat of Russia).

 

[Ms. Turquoise]

How many tactical nuclear warheads does the US have?

I think that tactical nuclear weapons are the most in demand right now, because missile defense systems intercept strategic warheads.

Tactical nuclear missiles can be fired even from ordinary Himers, right? And a flight range of more than 500 km is enough to cover any territory.

It is most convenient to place them on submarines. And in the United States there are a lot of submarines.

Is there reliable data on US strategic nuclear warheads, how many of them are deployed and on what carriers?

They would only need a handful to destroy the entire earth.

 

[Silver Cat]

They would only need a handful to destroy the entire earth.

Actually, no. The total yield of all Earth nukes is hardly more than ten gigatons. Just a large volcano burst.
Practically talking, there is a nice town in Nevada - Las Vegas. There is a Nevada Nuclear test site nearby. There was almost one thousand of nuclear burst in a relatively short period of time. And the town is still quite a lively place.

 

[Ms. Turquoise]

Actually, no. The total yield of all Earth nukes is hardly more than ten gigatons. Just a large volcano burst.
Practically talking, there is a nice town in Nevada - Las Vegas. There is a Nevada Nuclear test site nearby. There was almost one thousand of nuclear burst in a relatively short period of time. And the town is still quite a lively place.

I heard that today's nukes are 10 times more powerful than the bombs that hit Hiroshima and Nakasaki. So, a nuclear test site must be a lot weaker than the real thing.

 

[Silver Cat]

I heard that today's nukes are 10 times more powerful than the bombs that hit Hiroshima and Nakasaki. So, a nuclear test site must be a lot weaker than the real thing.

It depends. For example, American W76-2 has yield only few kilotons, which is few times weaker than Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The yield of Russian "strategic torpedo" Poseidon is somewhere between 100 megatons and one gigaton, which is comparable with a little asteroid hit, but it's really far from the Earth destruction.

 

[Ms. Turquoise]

It depends. For example, American W76-2 has yield only few kilotons, which is few times weaker than Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The yield of Russian "strategic torpedo" Poseidon is somewhere between 100 megatons and one gigaton, which is comparable with a little asteroid hit, but it's really far from the Earth destruction.

OK. I'll take your word for it. I hope and pray we never have to find out.

 

[Silver Cat]

OK. I'll take your word for it. I hope and pray we never have to find out.

May be, it's not enough just to pray. May be we need actually do something. Something like making America great again (which includes nuclear rearmament).

 

[Ms. Turquoise]

May be, it's not enough just to pray. May be we need actually do something. Something like making America great again (which includes nuclear rearmament).

If that means voting for Donald Trump, then no. I'll just keep hoping and praying.