The date is November 9th, 1979. The world is locked in the icy grip of the
Cold War, a power struggle played out economically and politically between the United States
and the Soviet Union. Many however fear that after decades of a
very uneasy peace, a full-blown military clash is inevitable, and both sides know that such
a war will be fought with nuclear weapons. The United States, fearful of being outmatched
by the Soviets, has for a long time stockpiled nuclear weapons and enjoyed a historical numerical
advantage over the Soviet Union. Just one month away from 1980 though, the
US has shrunk its nuclear stockpile to around 21,300 weapons, while the Soviet Union has
increased it to a whopping 30,000. Most of these are smaller, tactical nuclear
weapons meant to be employed against airfields and military formations, but a few thousand
are the feared 'city killers', weapons so powerful they can eradicate entire cities
with one blast. The United States is confident that the threat
of nuclear war is at its highest only during times of political crisis- such as the Cuban
Missile Crisis of 1962. Yet when it comes to nuclear weapons, a first
strike will determine the winner, and thus the US has spent billions on building the
world's best early warning system. A picket line of over-the-horizon radars runs
across Alaska, into Canada, and finally ending at Greenland's east coast, all of them aimed
towards the Soviet Union on the other side of the globe. In space a network of thermal imaging satellites
are on constant alert for the tell-tale heat plumes of an ICBM climbing into the sky, while
a second set of smaller radars and satellites constantly scan the oceans for an attack by
submarine-launched weapons. American hunter-killer subs constantly prowl
for Soviet ballistic missile submarines, and thanks to an incredible underwater detection
network that spans the world, Soviet subs have an extremely difficult time evading their
hunters. The US is confident that it can detect and
respond to an attempted Soviet first strike, and while tensions with the Soviet Union are
at a historical low, the fear of a bolt-out-of-the-blue attack keeps thousands of American military
personnel on constant alert. Buried half a mile beneath a mountain in the
Colorado Rockies, and hardened to survive everything but a direct nuclear blast, the
North American Aerospace Defense Command- or NORAD for short- is a joint operation between
the American and Canadian military. The agency's primary mission is to detect
and respond to nuclear launches anywhere in the world, but it also monitors and protects
all air space across the North American continent. Networked to NORAD via numerous redundancies
is every major military command in the US and Canada, as well as the top government
leadership of both nations. This information superhub is at the time the
world's largest concentration of computing power, and the heart of the world's largest
communications network. It is however, not immune to human error. It is 2:59 AM, and deep within the heart of
NORAD, an engineer inserts a tape into a computer networked directly into the defense network's
missile warning system. Three seconds later in the 'big room', the
nerve center for NORAD, monitors across the room come to life displaying missile launch
warnings within the Soviet Union. The picket line or early warning over-the-horizon
radars scattered all the way from Alaska to Greenland confirm launches all across the
Soviet Union, though the missiles are still too low in the atmosphere to calculate the
origin of their launches, or their final trajectory. Twenty seconds later, space-based thermal-imaging
satellites confirm hot pings from within the vicinity of known Soviet missile sites. The alert is immediately broadcast to air
defense units in Alaska and Canada. At Eielson Air Force Base deep in the heart
of Alaska, ten pilots on alert scramble to throw on their flight gear as ground crew
rushes out into the freezing thirty-below winter weather to prepare the alert aircraft
for emergency take-off. A separate warning sounds at Strategic Air
Command Air Force bases around the globe, and in the US pilots rush to their waiting
B-52 nuclear bombers. A portion of the B-52 fleet is kept on constant
alert and fully armed with nuclear weapons. The pilots rush through their pre-flight checklists
and will be on their way to targets deep in the heart of the Soviet Union within fifteen
minutes. Flying 24 hour patrols for the last nineteen
years, the alert also reaches a Strategic Air Command Looking Glass aircraft. Aboard this converted Boeing 707 is a suite
of the world's most advanced and jam-proof communications gear, and the aircraft is connected
to every American military network in the world. Also aboard the aircraft is a general officer
and his battle staff, who upon receipt of the alert immediately begin preparations to
take over command and control of the United State's nuclear forces in the case that SAC
headquarters are destroyed in the first round of nuclear exchange. In Andrews Air Force Base, just miles outside
of Washington, flight crews scramble to prepare and launch the National Emergency Airborne
Command Post. This converted passenger liner is hardened
against EMP blast and connected to the rest of the military's command and control networks
via several satellite and radio redundancies. From here the President, or his successor,
will command the nation through its first, and likely last, nuclear war, and command
any surviving forces in the wake of nuclear annihilation. All of this is happening concurrently within
twenty seconds after receipt of the first nuclear launch alert, NORAD's warning already
sending thousands of men scrambling as they prepare to retaliate against the Soviet Union
and prevent a nuclear decapitation first-strike attack. Thirty seconds after the alert, the phone
rings in national security advisor's Zbigniew Brzezinski's home. On the third ring Brzezinski picks up- the
voice on the other end is stressed, but professional, and says simply: “We have confirmation of
Soviet nuclear launch- 250 confirmed bogeys with final trajectory into the continental
US confirmed. The President has between three to seven minutes
to decide on retaliation.” Shaking himself out of his sleep stupor, Brzezinski
asks the military aide on the other side of the line to confirm that Strategic Air Command
has launched its planes. He also asks for further confirmation of launch
before he alerts the President. The aide responds with a simple, “affirmative”,
and hangs up the landline. Stunned and in disbelief, Brzezinski looks
over at his sleeping wife. He decides not to wake her- he and everyone
else in Washington will be dead within twenty to thirty minutes anyways. Better that she sleep through the end of the
world. At Eielson Air Force Base, the jet engines
of ten F-104 interceptors roar to life. The planes taxi to the alert runway and within
moments begin screaming into the sky by pairs. The ten interceptors tear into a sky rocked
by a winter storm at full afterburners, racing to gain altitude and turning towards the Alaskan
coast. Five will fly west, and another five will
fly north. Soon more will join them, but for the first
fifteen minutes of World War Three, these ten planes are all that will safeguard the
United States from waves of Soviet nuclear bombers. Though they are armed with air-to-air missiles,
the F-104s also carry a single nuclear-tipped air-to-air missile with a .25 kiloton yield-
they can run no risk of a Soviet bomber evading them or their missiles. Arcing away from Eielson Air Force Base, each
pilot looks over his shoulder at the quickly fading lights of the base, thinking of their
families below which are blissfully sleeping through the start of World War Three. Even if their mission is successful, each
man knows that they will never see their families again- Eielson Air Force Base is a prime target
for a Soviet first-strike via either submarine launched ballistic missile, or ground-based
ICBM. The air base will launch as many of its fighters
and interceptors as possible before being reduced to nuclear rubble, its pilots on a
one-way mission to down as many Soviet bombers as possible before being forced to ditch their
aircraft or attempt to find a surviving civilian airfield to land on. A full minute and a half after the first launch
alert is received by NORAD, the big wheels of a B-52 begin to turn as the aircraft slowly
lumbers down its airstrip. In moments it will be airborne, laden with
nuclear gravity bombs which it will drop deep within the heart of the Soviet Union. It will soon be joined by dozens of its brethren,
launching from airfields all across North America, and each one turning north towards
the Soviet Union. At Andrews Air Force Base, the National Emergency
Airborne Command Post has lifted off, though without the Secretary of Defense or the President
as planned. The plane must get out of the immediate vicinity
of Washington DC and the general airspace of major eastern seaboard cities in order
to avoid being downed by the incoming nuclear strike. The plane will instead later land at a designated
and still operational airfield to take on board any surviving civilian leadership, taking
off once more before the second volley of Soviet nuclear weapons can strike. All across the heartland of the United States,
ten-ton blast proof concrete doors roll back across hundreds of missile silos. Buried three hundred feet into the ground,
each silo houses a single Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, with pre-programmed targets
in the Soviet Union. The missiles contain up to a dozen independently
targeting warheads, along with decoys and counter measures meant to confuse Soviet interceptors. Each major Soviet city is targeted by at least
two warheads, many by three or more, in order to ensure a successful nuclear strike and
total destruction of their target. Along with cities, the missiles target large
swathes of the Soviet Union's fertile eastern grasslands, the breadbasket of the nation. Warheads targeting these areas will detonate
only upon impacting the ground, blowing hundreds of thousands of tons of dirt and debris across
the countryside and causing giant plumes of radioactive fallout. The fallout will make farming impossible for
decades, and ensure that the Soviet Union starves to death. The opening round of World War Three will
not only determine national survival, but extinction itself. It is now two minutes after the first alert,
and using the Extreme Low Frequency communications system the United States Navy has set up around
the globe, American nuclear ballistic missile submarines receive an alert order. Each sub deploys a small buoy to the surface
and links up with the nation's military satellite communications network while remaining safely
submerged and hidden from view. The subs wait for orders as the crew prepares
to deliver their deadly nuclear-tipped cargo. Deep in the depths of the Pacific, Arctic
and Atlantic, as well as the Gulf of Mexico, American nuclear attack submarines receive
a similar order- only their job is much different. With the aid of the Navy's SOSUS underwater
surveillance system, the US has been able to track nearly every single Soviet ballistic
missile submarine for over a decade. Soviet subs have thus been unknowingly stalked
by technologically superior, and far more silent, American nuclear attack submarines
every time they leave Soviet territorial waters. Commanders of attack submarines around the
world prepare a firing solution on their quarry, hoping to knock the Soviet ballistic missile
submarine fleet out of the water before it can fire a single shot. Seconds later, a second phone call rings in
national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski's home. The military aide on the other end is blunt
and direct. NORAD now detects 2,200 incoming Soviet missiles,
and SAC has confirmed the launch of its strategic bombers. The aide tells Brzezinski however that there
is some issues with ground-based and satellite assets, which when queried directly report
no missile launches. Brzezinski thanks the aide and commands him
to keep him informed as he hangs up the phone and calls the President. The call with the President lasts only a few
brief moments, both men know that they have only minutes left before a response to a Soviet
attack is impossible, and waste no time on words. Brzezinski looks over at his still-sleeping
wife, wondering if this is the last day of his life. Perhaps, the last day of the human race. The confusion between NORAD's systems and
direct queries with early warning assets is troubling- could the Soviets be jamming their
communications or somehow spoofing their early warning systems in order to prevent a counterattack? Could the entire attack be nothing more than
a computer error within NORAD's systems itself? Can he, or the President of the United States,
afford to be wrong? Thousands of feet up in the Alaska skies,
the F-104s speed to their designated air defense zones, coordinating with ground-based radar. Soviet bombers should be inbound by now, as
they are much more difficult to detect over long distances versus the launch of thousands
of ICBMs. Yet ground-based radar reports nothing but
normal civilian air traffic over the Bering Sea, and absolutely no sign of Soviet aircraft
over the Kamchatka Peninsula. The US Air Force's PAVE PAWS early warning
radar system is also giving troubling readings. Technically still under construction, some
sites on the east and west coast are already operational and scanning the Pacific and Atlantic
ocean for both ICBM and submarine-launched threats. Yet these early phased-array radars detect
nothing. Phased-array radar technology is new though,
and once more the question of equipment reliability looms- can the United States really afford
to be wrong, and decide that no threat exists? It is now three and a half minutes after the
first launch warning, and direct queries to space-based assets are showing negative launches. Ground-based radar across the northern hemisphere
confirms this- there are no detected Soviet launches. NORAD is wrong, even as its computer screens
show Soviet ICBMS mere minutes from unleashing nuclear annihilation across the United States. One minute later, the President issues a stand-down
order for all American nuclear alert forces. Still in bed, next to his sleeping wife, Brezezinksi
lets out a deep sigh of relief. The Soviet nuclear attack is almost certainly
an equipment malfunction, as even right now NORAD technicians are scouring the computer
network for errors. In just a few minutes they'll discover the
computer tape inserted into a unit used for training, and realize that the tape was a
training exercise simulating a full-scale nuclear attack against the United States. In the subsequent investigation though, no
answer will be discovered as to how the computer managed to inadvertently feed the false data
to NORAD's early warning systems and issue a real-world threat. For now though, that doesn't matter. All that matters is that Brezezinksi will
get to see his wife in the morning after all. He, and the rest of humanity will get at least
one more day on this planet. He looks at her sleeping next to him and decides
not to wake her. No point telling her the world almost ended
eight minutes ago. What would you have done if you were in the
US President's shoes during this incident? Tell us in the comments, and if you enjoyed
this video then check out what a real nuclear war between the US and Russia would look like
in What If There Was A Nuclear War Between The US and Russia? And as always, don't forget to Like, Share,
and Subscribe before we all die.
Source code of tape leaked
In 1983, it happened again....from the other perspective, and one man stood in the way:
https://www.vox.com/2018/9/26/17905796/nuclear-war-1983-stanislav-petrov-soviet-union
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRhHokffvBU
https://youtu.be/2GcwAD_7tJY