How would the United States Fight a Nuclear War?

it's been over 80 years since a major conflict has broken out in europe the result has left many with a deep sense of uncertainty nearly 70 percent of americans surveyed by the american psychological association feared that we are at the beginning stages of world war iii the prospect of nuclear conflict once unthinkable is now a very real possibility today we're going to explore the unthinkable how would the united states respond during a nuclear conflict what's america's nuclear war plan how many nuclear weapons are readily available to the president where are they what are their targets how many missiles would be launched how many casualties could we expect after american bombs reach their destinations what would the world look like going forward and most importantly could the united states win a global nuclear war [Music] the united states operates under a nuclear triad consisting of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles or icbms sea-based submarines armed with submarine launch ballistic missiles or slbms and air-based strategic bombers carrying gravity bombs and air-launched nuclear cruise missiles now let's take a look at each part of america's triad and its weapon delivery systems the first and most well-known part of america's nuclear trad is its land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles or icbms the us has 400 lgm 30 minute man 3 icbms that are launched via silos these 400 missiles have a range of over 6 000 miles and have near pinpoint accuracy when launched the three strays miniman 3 travels at speeds of over 15 000 miles per hour reaching its target in under 30 minutes each minute man 3 missile carries one warhead 200 minute man 3 missiles are armed with a 335 kiloton w87 mark 21a warhead while the other half are armed with a 300 kiloton w78 mark 12 warhead each warhead has around 40 times the destructive power of the bombs dropped on japan in 1945. america's miniman 3 silos are based in three rural areas the 90th missile wing at fe warren air base in colorado nebraska and wyoming the 91st missile wing at minot air force base in north dakota in the 341st missile wing in maelstrom air force base in montana each wing has three squadrons and each squadron has 50 minute man 3 silos they're collectively controlled by five heart and underground control launch centers each operated with two military officers around the clock at all times in the event that launch command centers are destroyed in a surprise attack or the military officers inhabiting the launch command control centers get cold feet these missiles can and will be remotely launched from an airborne command center carrying out orders from the president as with all things there are advantages and disadvantages of the silo based minuteman 3. its primary advantage is that these 400 missiles make the most responsive leg of the nuclear triad america's land-based icbm force has remained on continuous around-the-clock 24 7 alert since 1959 they could be quickly launched in less than five minutes america's silo based a strategic advantage as well due to the remote launch capability an effective nuclear attack against america's minutemen 3 silos will require at least 400 warheads a one bomb aimed at each silo forcing the enemy to use and deplete a considerable amount of the nuclear arsenal but this strategic advantage also highlights the minimum 3's disadvantages america's land-based miniman 3s are inherently vulnerable as their location is commonly known and therefore silos can and will be easily targeted as a result in the event of a large-scale attack the president would be put in a sticky situation he or she would have to either use these 400 missiles or lose them forcing a large scale of retaliatory attack in response to perceived incoming warheads targeting american silos with enemy missiles already in flight the leader of the free world would only have 15 minutes to decide and once a missile is launched there is no churning back the second arm of america's nuclear triad is its air-based strategic bombers the u.s air force currently operates a fleet of 66 strategic bombers america's strategic bombers are organized into nine bomb squadrons and five bomb wings at three bases minute air force base in north dakota barksdale air force base in louisiana and whitman air force base in missouri there are 300 nuclear weapons currently deployed at strategic bomber bases in the u.s an additional 100 tactical nuclear bombs are to plant at nato air bases in europe america's bomber fleet consists of 46 b-52 strata fortress bombers and 20 b-2 stealth bombers the b-2 stealth bomber can carry up to 16 1200 kiloton nuclear gravity bombs each gravity bomb contains a massive payload of 150 times the destructive power of the bomb drop to hiroshima the b-52 strata fortress bomber is a long-range heavy bomber with the ability to travel up to 9000 miles without refueling the b-52 carries up to 20 agm-86 subsonic air launch cruise missiles when launched the agm-86 missile can travel over 1500 miles at speeds exceeding 555 miles per hour using its independent guidance system to deliver a w80 150 kiloton warhead to its target in less than 90 seconds each warhead contains around 20 times the destructive power of the bomb dropped on hiroshima the primary advantage of using air-based strategic bombers is that they can be called back if necessary furthermore subsonic air launched nuclear cruise missiles are a lot harder to defend against when launched an enemy force would have to counter-attack each missile individually making defense costly and complicated the small size also makes them difficult to detect on radar the primary disadvantage of strategic bombers is their response time they take a lot longer to get in the air and if air bases aren't on high alert or if planes aren't already in flight there's a high probability of them being destroyed in an initial surprise attack this is particularly true for bomber bases located in europe [Music] the last and most important part of america's nuclear triad are its nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines the u.s navy operates a fleet of 14 ohio-class ballistic missile submarines each submarine carries 20 trident ii submarine-launched ballistic missiles the trident ii sobm is the most destructive weapon in america's nuclear arsenal each missile is armed with either four or five 475 kiloton w88 warheads in theory each sub can launch his entire 20 missile payload virtually undetected in under seven minutes when launched the three-stage trident ii travels at speeds of over 18 000 miles per hour has a range of over 7 500 miles and typically reaches its target or targets in around 15 minutes each warhead is guided by a multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle or mirv allowing a single trident ii missile to deliver up to five warheads to five separate targets just one trident two missile alone armed with five warheads has 154 times the destructive power of the bomb dropped on hiroshima overall the us has around 70 percent of all of its warheads on submarines and with good reason there are numerous advantages of the ballistic missile submarine for starters they make up the most survivable leg of the nuclear triad ballistic missile submarines are virtually undetectable at sea their stealth design makes finding one an almost impossible task giving paws to potential adversaries with at least 10 submarines on constant patrol at all times ballistic missile submarines assure that the us can strike at any time anywhere even after a surprise attack with each sub carrying an average of 100 warheads each they have enough firepower to make just one submarine the sixth most powerful nuclear power in the world in terms of disadvantages there simply are none when people imagine a nuclear war the first thing that comes to mind is large cities like los angeles and moscow being incinerated in a blaze of nuclear hellfire while this would definitely be a likely outcome the reality is that around 70 of the 1800 nuclear warheads currently deployed by the united states aren't aimed at large cities but instead added enemy countries nuclear forces to better understand this we first need to take a look at america's current strategic nuclear war plan also known as a single integrated operational plan or psyop first drawing up in 1950 the saya focused primarily on the soviet union while today most of the weapons in the war plan still target russia other countries such as china north korea india and pakistan are included as well in this video we'll take a look at a nuclear exchange with the only nuclear power comparable to the united states the russian federation this portion of america's nuclear war plan is called major attack option 1. major attack option 1 is the most demanding attack option available to the president should the commander-in-chief order major attack option 1 the resulting attack would consist of over 1 000 warheads targeting russian nuclear forces including icbm silos road mobile icbms submarine bases primary airfields nuclear storage facilities design and production complexes critical command and control facilities and civilian population centers now let's take a look at a major attack option 1 its russian targets the american nuclear weapons used and the overall outcome of an american thermonuclear attack on russia [Music] you

Channel: Modern Muscle

Views: 7,206,626

Keywords: nuclear war, How Would the United States Fight a Nuclear War?, mutually assured destruction, nuclear war simulation, nuclear missile, united states, nuclear, nuclear missiles, us vs russia, countries, the infographics show, cold war, world war 3, nuclear war russia vs ukraine, nuclear weapons, russia, ukraine, nato, european union, eu, america, kyiv, kiev, russian nuclear war, russia vs ukraine war update, Vladimir putin, us military, Nuclear war ukraine, Putin, russia ukraine war, war

Id: Z1fvMmkIfSM

Length: 11min 12sec (672 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 27 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/reddog65]

Let’s hope this doesn’t come to pass. There’s no winners here

[u/jimbo92107]

You don't "fight" a nuclear war. There is no defense against strategic nuclear missiles, so what happens is everybody in the world sits around and waits to be vaporized. Not much of a fight, is it?

Sure, there are bound to be survivors, but all medium to large cities will be reduced to blackened rubble. Drifting clouds of radioactive fallout will kill billions of people. Famine will kill hundreds of millions more. The few that survive all that will face a truly bleak future. Wars after that will be fought with sticks and stones.

[u/SeedlessJam]

“Nucular”

[u/dortress]

There is no 'fighting', there's only dying. The question is who chooses suicide first?

[u/pweez]

Damnit! Now the enemy knows our strategy!

[u/ImNotEvenJewish]

I had no idea North Dakota was west of Montana. TIL

[u/bambooboi]

Umm... nuclEAR, thanks.

Lets not George W, please...

[u/red_langford]

With their cell phones. Videoing the carnage and threatening to sue

[u/[deleted]]

Yea nobody wins. Watch Threads (1983). A movie that does not look away at the horrors of a nuclear war.