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strategic weapons system
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What is a strategic weapons system?
A strategic weapons system is designed to strike an enemy's military, economic, or political power source. These systems aim to destroy a nation's cities, infrastructure, and government.
These weapons use atomic or thermonuclear devices due to their immense explosive power, capable of quickly destroying a large nation's war-making capabilities. Strategic weapons systems include delivery systems like intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles, all armed with thermonuclear warheads. Long-range heavy bombers can also deliver free-fall bombs or launch cruise missiles.
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What types of weapons are included in strategic weapons systems?
Strategic weapons systems are designed to strike an enemy at the source of their military, economic, or political power and can include delivery systems such as intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which have a range exceeding 3,500 miles (5,630 km). Some intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs), with ranges between 600 and 3,500 miles (965 and 5,630 km), and submarine-launched ballistic missiles can also be used.
Other strategic weapons systems can be cruise missiles, which are shorter-range missiles launched from aircraft, ships, or submarines, and long-range heavy bombers, or strategic bombers, which can fly intercontinental distances and drop free-fall bombs or launch cruise missiles. These delivery systems carry thermonuclear warheads and atomic bombs, with the distinguishing feature of a strategic weapon being its ability to deliver thermonuclear warheads accurately from one continent to another.
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How are strategic weapons different from tactical weapons?
Strategic and tactical weapons systems differ in their purpose and scale. Strategic weapons systems are designed to strike at the core of an enemy's power, targeting cities, infrastructure, and government centers, often using thermonuclear devices delivered intercontinentally via missiles or long-range bombers. Their goal is to cripple a nation's ability to wage war.
Tactical weapons, on the other hand, are for shorter-range offensive or defensive use with immediate consequences on the battlefield, such as antitank or antiaircraft applications. Unlike strategic weapons, which are limited to a few nations, tactical systems are widespread, manufactured by many countries, and used by various military and non-state groups.
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Why do some countries develop or maintain strategic weapons systems?
Countries develop or maintain strategic weapons systems for a number of reasons, primarily related to national security and international influence. These systems, which include intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), long-range bombers, and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, are designed to strike an enemy's vital centers of power.
Deterrence is a key factor, with nations aiming to prevent attacks by maintaining a credible threat of retaliation. During the Cold War, the concept of mutual assured destruction (MAD) exemplified this, where the certainty of devastating consequences for both attacker and defender was meant to avert conflict. Nuclear weapons, in particular, have created a divide between nations, establishing a class of powers who possess these destructive tools and those who do not.
Beyond deterrence, strategic weapons can also be seen as symbols of power and prestige, enhancing a country's standing on the global stage. The decision to develop or maintain these systems involves balancing the perceived need for security against the economic costs and potential for escalating tensions.
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What is the role of missiles in strategic weapons systems?
Missiles in strategic weapons systems are designed to strike an enemy's power source, such as cities, infrastructure, and government centers. These systems use nuclear warheads for extensive destruction. Strategic missiles, either cruise or ballistic, can reach intercontinental distances from land, air, or sea. The United States and the former Soviet Union primarily developed them, with other countries like the United Kingdom, France, and China also producing them.
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How do international agreements affect the development and use of strategic weapons systems?
International agreements significantly influence the development and use of strategic weapons systems. Treaties like the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) I and II aimed to curtail the manufacture of strategic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons, with the goal of restraining the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union.
These agreements can limit the deployment of certain weapons, as seen in the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, which restricted each side to only one ABM deployment area and 100 interceptor missiles. Such limitations prevent any party from defending its entire territory, maintaining the deterrent effect of the other's strategic forces. The Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) also plays a crucial role by preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to non-nuclear states.
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strategic weapons system, any weapons system designed to strike an enemy at the source of his military, economic, or political power. In practice, this means destroying a nationās cities, factories, military bases, transportation and communications infrastructure, and seat of government. Strategic weapons systems use atomic or thermonuclear devices, because only these weapons have sufficient explosive power to destroy, with relative ease and quickness, the entire war-making capability of a large nation. The term strategic weapons system refers not merely to the explosive devices themselves but rather to the complex delivery systems that enable these warheads to reach their targets. Indeed, the distinguishing feature of a strategic weapons system is its ability to deliver thermonuclear warheads accurately from one continent to another.
Strategic weapons systems can consist of any of the following delivery systems: intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), that is, missiles having a range exceeding 3,500 miles (5,630 km); some intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs), that is, missiles having a range between 600 and 3,500 miles (965 and 5,630 km); submarine-launched ballistic missiles, which are in effect IRBMs or ICBMs launched from submarines; and cruise missiles, which are shorter-range missiles that can be launched from aircraft, ships, or submarines and can thereby reach strategic distances. All these delivery systems carry thermonuclear warheads. Another important strategic weapons system is that of long-range heavy bombers, or strategic bombers, which can fly intercontinental distances and drop free-fall bombs or launch cruise missiles, both thermonuclear-armed.
The considerations involved in managing the storage, maintenance, and accurate delivery of these weapons are numerous. The missile itself requires maintenance and security of its propulsion system and propellant; its internal guidance system; its on-board computer, if any; and its payload, the reentry vehicle (RV) or warhead. If it carries a cluster of multiple independently targeted RVs (MIRVs), then the risk is multiplied. In addition, the silo in which each missile is mountedāor the submarine or airplane, and, if the latter, its baseāand its readiness to function when needed are concerns, as are the up-to-dateness of the target that each RV is programmed to hit, the launch-control procedure, and the intricate communications web that holds the system together.
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Five countriesāthe United States, Russia (heir to the Soviet Union), China, the United Kingdom, and Franceāoperated such systems in the late 20th century, but only the first two maintained missile arsenals large enough to require strategic weapons systems of extreme complexity.
In the late 20th century, Western knowledge of the strategic weapons system of China was limited. At least 60 IRBMs were known to be stationed in western China, and small numbers of ICBMs were known to exist. The Chinese also possessed a type of submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). France maintained two strategic systems in the late 20th century. One was built around a two-stage, solid-fueled IRBM carrying a thermonuclear warhead. The other was based on a submarine-launched IRBM with three solid-propellant stages. The United Kingdom operated a submarine-launched system equipped with older U.S. Polaris missiles.
The United States had two active ICBM systemsāthe Minuteman, with 950 missiles, and the newer MX, with 50 missiles. The United States had cruise missiles for launching from submarines, surface ships, and land and from the bombers of the Strategic Air Command (SAC). The other U.S. missile systemsāthe obsolescent Polaris, and the Poseidon and Trident systemsāwere all submarine-launched. All U.S. missile systems used solid propellant. SAC had two types of strategic bombers, the B-52 and the newer B-1.
In the late 20th century, Russia maintained numerous major silo-launched ICBM systems, with the U.S. designations of SS-11, SS-16, SS-17, SS-18, SS-19, SS-20, SS-23, SS-24, and SS-25. Russia also had submarine-launched systems and strategic bombers. The latest Soviet ICBMs used solid propellants, in contrast to their liquid-fueled predecessors.
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Many missiles in service had internal computers; all could carry thermonuclear warheads; and most had the capacity to carry from 3 to 14 or more MIRVs. Cruise missiles could carry only one warhead.
Each of these weapons systems was an intricate network of communications among people and missiles carrying hydrogen bombs. Elaborate design, engineering, and programming of the āfail-safeā variety was meant to minimize the chance that a computer failure or some simple accident would set off a major catastrophe. For this reason, the most critical concern in the maintenance and operation of strategic weapons systems was to provide certain and secure communication between civil and military commanders and to provide ābackupā computer and other facilities wherever failure of a component could have lethal consequences.