Can Putin launch nukes at several NATO countries at once?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

Obviously, I am completely ignorant about everything to do with nuclear bombs but I have googled, and my tiny mind just doesn't grasp how this works.

In theory, could the UK/ US/ France/ Germany/ several other countries all suffer hits seconds apart?

Or would Putin have to choose one to be the first? How would he choose targets?

I understand the idea of mutual assured destruction if there are just two entities battling it out - but I don't understand how the dynamics of MAD work if it is Russia vs numerous countries, and Putin can only target one area at a time?

Is the nuclear capacity at his disposal really so huge he could take out many major cities and all military bases in Europe and the USA all at once?

And I did think the USA had a defence system that theoretically can shoot down nukes before they hit target ie over the sea?

They might do, and so might Russia, but I think there's a convention against their development (as it would upset the stalemate) but seeing the recent developments in iron shield in Israel it seems quite likely there's a much beefier version of that somewhere

Iron Dome sorry

I still have this brochure which the local council thoughtfully produced in the 80s.

There’s more

I wonder if any nations developed the metal gear rex prototype

@AbsentmindedWoman

Obviously, I am completely ignorant about everything to do with nuclear bombs but I have googled, and my tiny mind just doesn't grasp how this works.

In theory, could the UK/ US/ France/ Germany/ several other countries all suffer hits seconds apart?

Or would Putin have to choose one to be the first? How would he choose targets?

I understand the idea of mutual assured destruction if there are just two entities battling it out - but I don't understand how the dynamics of MAD work if it is Russia vs numerous countries, and Putin can only target one area at a time?

Is the nuclear capacity at his disposal really so huge he could take out many major cities and all military bases in Europe and the USA all at once?

A shorter version of wargames, is look on YouTube for major attack option one, on the show Madame Secretary,.only around 4 mins, that basically explains Russia nukes capabilities

CovidCorvid

Think i may be verging on hysterical but those leaflets are so funny, how ahead of the curve were you to keep hold of them just in case you wanted to know just how irradiated you might be dependent on how close you were to the epicenter of Lincoln!🤣

I am actually scared to death but here for the humour

CovidCorvid they are gold 😎

m.youtube.com/watch?v=QYSh9FKiczc

@Deliberateplanning

Anyone else quite relieved/surprised to wake up every morning atm?

Yes.

@CovidCorvid

I still have this brochure which the local council thoughtfully produced in the 80s.

Bloody hell, no softening the blow there 😂

@1happyhippie

Can I ask a really stupid question 😂 What is the point in anyone having these weapons then? If as soon as one country fires one, they are guaranteed to get the same (or more) back in return? Just doesn’t seem any point in anyone having them 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

mutually assured destruction.

those with them are safe they act as a shield and the biggest stick in the world, those without them are open to attack, the USA has never attacked any nation that can bomb them for example, they leave alone those that could actually threaten them.

I’m wondering what would happen to the ISS. The people up there must really be pretty worried!!

Those Lincoln brochures are very funny 😆 I wonder what the purpose of them was? Because you don't really need to know that information if you're in a radioactive crater in the centre of Lincoln.

@OneTC

Iron Dome sorry

iron dome cant take down nukes, its for small rockets and missiles.

how do you propose you take down a nuke anyway think about it.

detonating them in the air isnt going to save you, in fact that is the preferred place for one to go off, causes more damage then letting them hit the ground like a conventional bomb that detonates on impact.

At what point would you ever fire them knowing that when you fire it, you face instant retaliation?

This is from Yes Prime Minister. Very relevant today.

@1happyhippie

Can I ask a really stupid question 😂 What is the point in anyone having these weapons then? If as soon as one country fires one, they are guaranteed to get the same (or more) back in return? Just doesn’t seem any point in anyone having them 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

Because the ‘angry’ countries are set on building them, so everybody who wants peace has to then build some too as a deterrent. Then the more the angry countries build, the more we all have to build in order to match them. It is pretty stupid, but I don’t think we can force other countries not to build them 🤷‍♀️ I don’t get why they need quite so many though, as it sounds like a couple of dozen/maybe couple of hundred each would probably take out the whole world.

@stuntbubbles

An idiot’s question: if he did press the big red button – or 6,000 red buttons, like whack-a-mole – how would we actually know in time to retaliate for MAD? Is there a feller up a tower somewhere with binoculars whose sole job is to yell “Warhead, sir, dead ahead!”? Or do we have double agents in Russia watching what’s going on with secret devices in their shoes to tell us we’d better press our red button?

... satellites monitor the skies for warheads and would alert military to an impending nuclear attack.

It's not the 50s.

I am enjoying the idea that Ivan and Yuri are scurrying up and down ladders aiming the weapons at individual targets. I can see a lot of flat caps and scratching of heads.

@Squidthing

Wouldn't all the fall out from a hit anywhere in Europe also affect Russia though? Even if he managed to just hit Liz Truss?

No not unless it was within zone.

@Spanglybangles

I’m wondering what would happen to the ISS. The people up there must really be pretty worried!!

They can escape the ISS anytime, the ships that dock with it to take supplies and take away waste, kinda stay I mean there is always at least one attached to the station.

they are really cool to watch when they launch, the Dragon was the coolest looking one, very bright trails and seemed to corkscrew on its way up, very pretty, the supply ships if you can catch them look way cooler then the ISS passes

@FruitToast

Even if they did it would still be MAD. Our nuclear submarines are, no doubt, patrolling the seas around Russia right now. Our nuclear arsenal isn't sitting in Scotland waiting for launch!

Quite. If the commanding officer of whichever Vanguard-class submarine is on patrol at the moment deems that the UK must have perished (Radio 4 ceasing to broadcast being one of the tests), then he goes to the safe and opens a letter from the Prime Minister. That letter will tell him what the PM wants him to do in the event that the UK is wiped out (such as: retaliate, surrender, latch on to an ally etc.).

Until that point, only the PM knows what was written in that letter (even if you would never use nuclear weapons, you want the Russians to think that you would). When a PM resigns the old letters get destroyed.

So a pre-emptive strike doesn't mean that you can avoid retaliation, the submarines may still act even if we are wiped out.

@Cocycola

Possibly, who knows. But what a dramatic scare mongering thread. 🙄

I actually don’t agree…not scaremongering,just a poster asking questions! Is that ok Cocycola ?

how do you propose you take down a nuke anyway think about it.

As bullshit as it was the star wars programme was intended to achieve this.
I wasn't suggesting iron dome was a viable measure against nuclear attack but we'll never know how far along they went with development of SDI or where they are now with it

This thread is Mumsnet at its best. A beautiful mix of genuine questions, very intelligent MNers and some random musings.
Having just read the leaflet about Lincoln, do you think Putin would mind tipping me off about his targets in the U.K. so I know whether to go ahead with giving the roofer a deposit this week for replacing the roof? If I'm so close to the epicentre that either my entire house disappears into a crater or the new roof is ripped off, I'll be quite annoyed and will have to deal with that annoyance whilst also working out how to live in some post-nuclear attack apocalypse.