Nuclear & Biological Weapons

Photo of Oppenheimer with Einstein in 1949 writing the letter to Roosevelt that led to the Manhatten project

Edward Teller,the inventor of the hydrogen bomb

1956 test of a nuclear cannon with a 8 inch wide projectile capable of traveling 11 miles with the force of the
Hiroshima atomic bomb.A nuclear cannon that could travel in the battlefield.
1956 test of Nuclear Weapon in The Pacific Ocean.

"I'm not sure what weapons will be used in World War III,but World War IV will be fought
with sticks and stones."~Albert Einstein

The memory of  the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident which occurred on April 26,1986.Over 15 years later a ghost town near
the plant still remains standing, not fit for human occupation .

The First Hydrogen Bomb Being Tested at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific,1952

2004 Estimated Nuclear ICBMs
United States  10,925
Russia            20,000
France                450
China                  400
Britain                 185
Israel                   100
India                      40
Pakistan                 15
North Korea            2

July 16, 1945 1st atomic bomb detonated, Trinity Site, Alamogordo, New Mexico

United States
First nuclear test: 1945
Most recent nuclear test: 1992
Total tests: 1,030 (815 underground)

Russia
First nuclear test: 1949
Most recent nuclear test: 1990
Total tests: 715 (496 underground)

United Kingdom
First nuclear test: 1952
Most recent nuclear test: 1991
Total tests: 45 (24 underground)

France
First nuclear test: 1960
Most recent nuclear test: 1996
Total tests: 210 (160 underground)

China
First nuclear test: 1964
Most recent nuclear test: 1996
Total tests: 43 (22 underground)

India
First nuclear test: 1974
Most recent nuclear test: 1998
Total tests: 7

Pakistan
First nuclear test: 1998
Most recent nuclear test: 1998
Total tests: 6

Israel
No Nuclear Tests
150-350 estimated nuclear weapons

North Korea
No Nuclear Tests
5-15 estimated nuclear weapons
 

Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear weapons derive their enormous explosive force from either the fission or fusion of
atomic nuclei. Their significance may best be appreciated by the coining of the words kiloton
(1,000 tons) and megaton (one million tons) to describe their blast effect in equivalent weights
of TNT. For example, the first nuclear fission bomb, the one dropped on Hiroshima, Japan,
in 1945, released energy equaling 15,000 tons (15 kilotons) of chemical explosive from less
than 130 pounds (60 kilograms) of uranium. Fusion bombs, on the other hand, have given yields
up to almost 60 megatons. The first nuclear weapons were bombs delivered by aircraft; warheads
for strategic ballistic missiles, however, have become by far the most important nuclear weapons
(see above Strategic missiles). There are also smaller tactical nuclear weapons that include artillery
projectiles, demolition munitions (land mines), antisubmarine depth bombs, torpedoes, and short-range
ballistic and cruise missiles. The U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons reached its peak in 1967 with
more than 32,000 warheads of 30 different types; the Soviet stockpile reached its peak of about
33,000 warheads in 1988.Also called ATOMIC WEAPON, or THERMONUCLEAR WEAPON,
bomb or other warhead that derives its force from either the fission or the fusion of atomic nuclei and
is delivered by an aircraft, missile, Earth satellite, or other strategic delivery system. A brief treatment
of nuclear weapons follows. For full treatment, see War, The Technology of: Modern weapons
and weapon systems.Nuclear weapons are the most potent explosive devices yet invented and may
be deployed in such "delivery systems" as missiles and even artillery shells. They derive their destructive
force from energy contained in the core, or nucleus, of atoms. This energy may be explosively released
in two types of nuclear reactions: fission, in which heavy-element nuclei break down into fragments
(which actually constitute lighter elements), and fusion, in which the nuclei of the lightest element
(hydrogen) are squeezed together at high temperatures and fuse to form helium nuclei. Nuclear
weapons are accordingly classified as fission (or "atomic") or fusion ("hydrogen," or "thermonuclear")
bombs. Fission devices use uranium or plutonium as fuel. When a sufficient amount of the fuel is
suddenly brought together, the fission of one nucleus causes the fission of others; these bring about
the fission of still more in turn. The process continues until all the fuel is consumed. This is called a
chain reaction, and the amount of fuel needed for it to occur is called the critical mass. The critical
mass depends upon the type and purity of the fuel and upon the amount (mass) of the fuel present.
In gun-type devices, one subcritical-sized piece of fuel is fired down a gunlike barrel into another,so
that there is a supercritical amount at the moment of impact that initiates the chain reaction. In implosion-
type devices, explosives surround a hollow sphere of fissionable fuel, which at the moment of
detonation is squeezed into one supercritical mass. The implosion technique is the more effective
and requires less fuel. (see also Index: atomic bomb, nuclear chain reaction, gun) Fusion devices
are inherently vastly more powerful than those utilizing only fission, although very small ones have
also been developed (see neutron bomb). A fission bomb is used as a detonator, to generate the
extremely high temperatures needed to induce the atomic nuclei of hydrogen isotopes
(deuterium and tritium) to combine, or fuse. Special radiation reflectors inside the bomb are used to
control the X-ray and gamma-ray "radiation pressure" generated by the fission bomb, which would
otherwise radiate outward. The reflectors direct the radiation pressure in such a way that it squeezes
a small cylinder containing the fuel simultaneously from all sides. This has to be done before other,
slower-moving blast fragments destroy the shields and other parts of the bomb; only a millionth of
a second delay is required, however, for the radiation to race ahead of the blast fragments and cause
fusion.The explosive force, or "yield," of a nuclear device is measured in the number of thousands
of tons (kilotons) or millions of tons (megatons) of TNT that it would take to generate an equivalently
powerful blast. Fission bombs are usually measured in kilotons, while fusion bombs with yields
of up to about 60 megatons have been tested.

History

A mere six years elapsed between the discovery of fission and the use of its energy to destroy
the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Early in 1939 several physicists concluded that when atoms of
a certain isotope of uranium are bombarded with neutrons, they split, releasing energy and more
neutrons. The discovery that upon absorbing one neutron the uranium atom emits a few more
raised the possibility of staging an energy-releasing chain reaction. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt
was alerted to the military significance of nuclear fission, and in response he created what became
known as the Manhattan Project, which was given the task of designing and building the first
atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project involved teams of scientists working on separate problems
at several locations throughout the United States. On Dec. 2, 1942, a milestone in the project
was reached when a self-sustaining chain reaction was achieved by the project's scientists in
Chicago. Researchers at Los Alamos, N.M., tested the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945.
The test bomb was named Trinity, had a yield of 21 kilotons, and was of an implosion-type,
plutonium-fuel design. It was an untested gun-type uranium bomb, however, that was dropped
by a B-29 bomber on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying two-thirds of the city. A duplicate
of the Trinity bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later. The development of atomic bombs
was then undertaken by several other countries. The Soviet Union tested its first fission bomb in 1949,
the United Kingdom in 1952, France in 1960, China in 1964, and India in 1974. Several other nations
since then are reported to have acquired sufficient knowledge and materials to be able to produce
nuclear weapons. Development of the fusion bomb followed that of the fission bomb, in part because
of the elaborate calculations involved, which had to be carried out on the most advanced computers
then available. On Nov. 1, 1952, the United States successfully tested the first thermonuclear fusion
device on an island in the Pacific. The Soviet Union tested its first device in 1953, the United Kingdom
in 1957, China in 1967, and France in 1968.

     Effects and Implications

The actual blast of a nuclear device is only one of its destructive effects. Others are the blinding
light and searing heat that it produces, and still another is an amount of lethal radiation that may
persist in the environment for hundreds or even thousands of years in the form of highly toxic
radioactive isotopes. This "fallout," or radioactive dust kicked up by the blast into the atmosphere,
may be carried by winds over great distances, posing a long-term radioactivity hazard.
The strategic effectiveness of nuclear weapons ultimately depends not so much upon their
explosive power as upon the indetectability and accuracy of the delivery system used. The Hiroshima
and Nagasaki bombs were carried by large, vulnerable airplanes. Today, nuclear devices have
been sufficiently miniaturized to fit inside missiles and even artillery shells. The development of
computerized missile-guidance systems has made possible MIRVs, or multiple warheads, each
of which is independently guided to a different target after release by the carrier missile at the
start of reentry from space. Missiles may also be launched from submarines or from land-based
mobile launchers or "hardened" silos. The first talks to restrict testing of nuclear weapons were
carried out between the Soviet Union and the United States in the mid-1950s. In 1963 a Nuclear
Test-Ban Treaty (q.v.) was worked out between the United States, the Soviet Union, and the
United Kingdom a treaty that all but a few nations have signed. Negotiations to limit or dismantle
the weapons themselves.From the late 1940s, U.S. nuclear weapon designers developed and tested
warheads to improve their ballistics, to standardize designs for mass production, to increase yields,
to improve yield-to-weight and yield-to-volume ratios, and to study their effects. These improvements
resulted in the creation of nuclear warheads for a wide variety of strategic and tactical delivery systems.

The basic principle of the fusion weapon (also called the thermonuclear or hydrogen bomb) is to
produce ignition conditions in a thermonuclear fuel such as deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen with
double the weight of normal hydrogen, or lithium deuteride. The Sun may be considered a thermonuclear
device; its main fuel is deuterium, which it consumes in its core at temperatures of 18,000,000 to
36,000,000 F (10,000,000 to 20,000,000 C). To achieve comparable temperatures in a weapon,
a fission triggering device is used

Limited Nuclear War

Flexible response did not prescribe a particular course of action; rather, it retained for NATO
the possibility that it would be the first to use nuclear weapons and suggested that this initially
would involve short-range, tactical weapons. (see also Index: limited warfare) When tactical
nuclear weapons such as the Honest John rocket were introduced into the NATO inventory during
the 1950s, the U.S. Army had supposed that these could be considered quite separately from
intercontinental strategic missiles. If anything, tactical nuclear weapons were closer to conventional
weapons and were to be integrated with general-purpose forces. A number of strategic thinkers
in the United States, including Henry Kissinger and Robert Osgood, hoped that, if the West could
reinforce its military strength in this way, it would be possible to take on communists in limited
nuclear wars without resort to incredible threats of massive retaliation.However, once the widespread
use of battlefield nuclear weapons by NATO was simulated in war games in the 1950s, it became
apparent that they would result in such death and destruction that they could in no way be considered
conventional. Also, as Warsaw Pact forces obtained comparable capabilities with such weapons as
the SS-1 missile, any Western advantage seemed neutralized. Unless a retreating defender used
nuclear weapons immediately, any later use could well be over his own territory and against a
dispersed enemy. And, if tactical nuclear weapons were used to impose great costs on the enemy,
there would be a risk that the conflict could soon escalate to strategic nuclear use. Limited nuclear
war, therefore, appeared a contradiction in terms.European governments were still loath to dispense
with the weapons. Although they could not be considered ordinary weapons of war, their close
integration with conventional forces meant that they were more likely than U.S. strategic nuclear
forces to get entangled in a land war in Europe. The idea was to use the risk of escalating to total
nuclear war with the United States as a powerful deterrent effect on the Soviet Union's actions in Europe.
According to this strategy, deterrence did not require a certainty that nuclear weapons would be used,
but only a risk. The consequences of miscalculation were so horrendous that a government would
dare not gamble. However, the United States, whose own security was now being linked to peace in
Europe, was still more concerned that miscalculation might nonetheless take place.

Certainly, NATO's procedures for "going nuclear" were designed to reduce the risk of unauthorized
use. But this created a tension between theory, which suggested that deterrence was served by the
risk that a conflict might get out of control, and practice, which exhibited a determination not to lose
control. The tension was reflected in discussions over how to replace the first generation of tactical
nuclear weapons as they became obsolete in the 1970s. If the next generation were made smaller
and more precise, then this would imply a readiness to use them to fight a nuclear war rather than
simply deter. An apparent readiness to wage nuclear war was at the heart of a controversy over the
"neutron bomb" (actually a thermonuclear missile warhead or artillery shell of enhanced radiation and
reduced blast), which was criticized for blurring the boundary between conventional and nuclear
weapons and thereby making it much easier to go nuclear.Even greater controversy was generated
by NATO's decision in 1979 to replace the Pershing IA, a medium-range ballistic missile, with two
weapons that would constitute a more powerful intermediate nuclear force (INF): the Pershing II
intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) and the Tomahawk cruise missile. The origins of the
program to modernize the INF lay in two western European concerns over the U.S. nuclear guarantee.
The first concern resulted from the tendency of the United States in the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
to concentrate on achieving symmetry between the nuclear forces of the two superpowers, while
paying little attention to the superiority, within the European theatre, of the Warsaw Pact in both nuclear
and conventional weapons. Particularly worrisome was the Soviet SS-20, an IRBM that was first
tested in 1974 and deployed in 1977. Although the SS-20 did not signal any shift in Soviet policy
(U.S. military bases in Europe and the British, French, and Chinese nuclear forces had long been targeted),
it was the first new missile designed for this purpose to have appeared in some time. In 1977 Chancellor
Helmut Schmidt of West Germany argued that NATO should not tolerate Soviet superiority in
such weapons. This suggested that the imbalance should be dealt with either through arms control
or by an equivalent Western effort to upgrade its own INF.The second concern placed far less stress
on the SS-20 and more on the requirements, within NATO's strategy of flexible response, to be able to
strike Soviet territory with systems based in western Europe in the event of full-scale war on the Continent.
This requirement existed irrespective of the new Soviet missiles, and it was becoming problematic because
of the age of NATO's medium bombers and the lack of any U.S. intermediate-range land-based missile in
Europe. A modernized INF made more sense than systems designed for battlefield use, because they
posed a direct threat to the Soviet homeland and thus challenged Soviet ideas of confining any nuclear
exchanges to NATO and Warsaw Pact countries, with superpower territory accorded sanctuary status.

However, large-scale protests sprang up in Europe and North America after the decision to
modernize. Voicing a concern that a new arms race was getting under way in Europe, they took
on special urgency following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (two weeks after NATO's decision
on the INF), with the decline of arms control, and with the election of Ronald Reagan, who had a
hawkish reputation, to the U.S. presidency. The strength of the protests encouraged NATO to
moderate its policy. The rationale for modernizing the INF was switched from the requirements of
flexible response to the more politically marketable aim of matching the deployment of the SS-20,
and in November 1981, at the start of negotiations on this issue, Reagan offered to eliminate NATO's
INF if all SS-20s were removed. This "zero option" was rejected by Leonid Brezhnev, and, despite
warnings from the Soviet Union that deployment of a modernized INF would mean the end of negotiations,
the first Tomahawk and Pershing II missiles were delivered in late 1983. Yury Andropov promptly
broke off the INF talks, hoping to force a breach in the unanimity of the NATO allies, but, when
the expected crisis failed to arise, Konstantin Chernenko agreed to resume negotiations. Soon
afterward Gorbachev was in charge, and he decided that the zero option was in the Soviet interest:
eliminating the INF would remove a direct threat to Soviet territory in return for removing a larger
number of Soviet missiles that could strike only the allies of the United States. In December 1987,
Gorbachev and Reagan signed the INF Treaty. Although America's allies saw that the treaty had
political benefits in improving East-West relations, some strategists worried that it sounded the death
knell for nuclear deterrence. One response by NATO was to see whether it would be possible to
build up other nuclear systems by way of compensation, but the difficulty here was that the improved
political climate undermined public support for such moves. In West Germany the question of
modernizing the short-range Lance missile was coloured by the direct and almost unique threat
this weapon posed to German territory. There had always been the strongest official support for
the traditional concept of nuclear deterrence in that country, but, with the political climate improving,
West German politicians such as Chancellor Helmut Kohl came to argue that yet another nuclear
modernization program would send the wrong signals to the East. They were also unhappy at the
apparent readiness of the United States and Britain to retain Germany as a battlefield for short-range
nuclear exchanges while securing the removal of intermediate- and long-range systems that threatened
their own territories. The Soviet Union possessed large numbers of short-range missiles and had
been modernizing them for a decade with such systems as the SS-21, but Gorbachev indicated a
readiness to negotiate their complete elimination. British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and U.S.
president George Bush insisted that this would be imprudent, and, following their lead, NATO
agreed in 1989 to postpone modernizing the Lance in the hope that negotiations on conventional
force reductions would reach a satisfactory conclusion and thus reduce the importance of nuclear
weapons as a means of compensating for the Warsaw Pact's conventional superiority.

The Bush administration was more orthodox on nuclear matters than its predecessor, but Reagan's
interest in a nuclear-free world--highlighted by SDI, the Reykjavík summit, and the INF
Treaty--had already encouraged discussion among some Europeans of the possibility of a
European defense community that would be less dependent upon the United States. In practice
this would require the substitution of a French and British strategic nuclear guarantee for an
American. Britain had always, officially at least, committed its strategic nuclear forces
(which since the late 1960s had been SLBMs) to NATO. Britain's rationale for maintaining a
national nuclear force involved a combination of the political influence that could be brought to
bear on its allies, especially the United States, and a claim to be contributing to the overall deterrent
posture. France, by contrast, had always had a much more nationalistic rationale, but after the
1970s, following the introduction of the Pluton short-range missile, which could only land on
German territory, it was obliged to consider the role that its force de frappe might have in the
defense of its allies. In any event, neither Britain nor France was eager to take over from the
United States the broader deterrent role; nor were those who had previously sheltered under
the U.S. umbrella interested in a European alternative.

Fusion

Refinements of the basic two-stage Teller-Ulam configuration resulted in thermonuclear weapons
with a wide variety of characteristics and applications. Some high-yield deliverable weapons
incorporated additional thermonuclear fuel (lithium deuteride) and fissionable material
(uranium-235 and uranium-238) in a third stage. While there was no theoretical limit to the yield
that could be achieved from a thermonuclear bomb (for example, by adding more stages), there
were practical limits on the size and weight of weapons that could be carried by aircraft or missiles.
The largest U.S. bombs had yields of from 10 to 20 megatons and weighed up to 20 tons.
Beginning in the early 1960s, however, the United States built a variety of smaller, lighter weapons
that exhibited steadily improving yield-to-weight and yield-to-volume ratios

Prohibited Areas of Combat

Military activities of any kind cannot be carried out on the Moon (the Moon Treaty of 1979),
Antarctica (the Antarctic Treaty of 1959), or on the territory (including the airspace) or territorial
waters of neutral states. In addition, nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction cannot
be orbited around the Earth (the Outer Space Treaty of 1967) or placed on the seabed
(the Seabed Treaty of 1971).formally TREATY ON PRINCIPLES GOVERNING THE
ACTIVITIES OF STATES IN THE EXPLORATION AND USE OF OUTER SPACE,
INCLUDING THE MOON AND OTHER CELESTIAL BODIES (1967), international
treaty binding the parties to use outer space only for peaceful purposes. In June 1966 the
United States and the Soviet Union submitted draft treaties on the uses of space to the United
Nations. These were reconciled during several months of negotiation in the Legal Subcommittee
of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, and the resulting document was
endorsed by the UN General Assembly on Dec. 19, 1966, and opened for signature on Jan. 27,
1967. The treaty came into force on Oct. 10, 1967, after being ratified by the United States, the
Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and several other countries.Under the terms of the treaty, the
parties are prohibited from placing nuclear arms or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit,
on the Moon, or on other bodies in space. Nations cannot claim sovereignty over the Moon or
other celestial bodies. Nations are responsible for their activities in space, are liable for any damage
caused by objects launched into space from their territory, and are bound to assist astronauts in
distress. Their space installations and vehicles shall be open, on a reciprocal basis, to
representatives of other countries, and all parties agree to conduct outer-space activities
openly and in accordance with international law.

HYDROGEN BOMB

The HYDROGEN BOMB, or H-BOMB, weapon whose enormous explosive power
results from an uncontrolled, self-sustaining chain reaction in which isotopes of hydrogen
combine under extremely high temperatures to form helium in a process known as nuclear
fusion (q.v.). The high temperatures that are required for the reaction are produced by the
detonation of an atomic bomb. (see also Index: nuclear fusion) A thermonuclear bomb
differs fundamentally from an atomic bomb in that it utilizes the energy released when
two light atomic nuclei combine, or fuse, to form a heavier nucleus. An atomic bomb,
by contrast, uses the energy released when a heavy atomic nucleus splits, or fissions, into
two lighter nuclei. Under ordinary circumstances atomic nuclei carry positive electrical charges
that act to strongly repel other nuclei and prevent them from getting close to one another. Only
under temperatures of millions of degrees can the positively charged nuclei gain sufficient kinetic
energy, or speed, to overcome their mutual electric repulsion and approach close enough to each
other to combine under the attraction of the short-ranged nuclear force. The very light nuclei of
hydrogen atoms are ideal candidates for this fusion process because they carry weak positive
charges and there is thus less resistance to overcome. The hydrogen nuclei that combine to form
heavier helium nuclei must lose a small portion of their mass (about 0.63 percent) in order to
"fit together" in a single larger atom. They lose this mass by converting it completely into energy,
according to Albert Einstein's famous formula: E = mc2. According to this formula, the amount of
energy created is equal to the amount of mass that is converted multiplied by the speed of light
squared. The energy thus produced forms the explosive power of a hydrogen bomb.
(see also Index: relativity) Deuterium and tritium, which are isotopes of hydrogen, provide ideal
interacting nuclei for the fusion process. Two atoms of deuterium, each with one proton and one neutron,
or tritium, with one proton and two neutrons, combine during the fusion process to form a heavier
helium nucleus, which has two protons and either one or two neutrons. In current thermonuclear
bombs, lithium deuteride is used as the fusion fuel; it is transformed to tritium early in the fusion process.
In a thermonuclear bomb, the explosive process begins with the detonation of what is called the
primary stage. This consists of a relatively small quantity of conventional explosives, the detonation
of which brings together enough fissionable uranium to create a fission chain reaction, which in turn
produces another explosion and a temperature of several million degrees. The force and heat of this
explosion are reflected back by a surrounding container of uranium and are channeled toward the
secondary stage, made up of tritium or other fusion fuel. The tremendous heat initiates fusion, and
the resulting explosion of the secondary stage blows the uranium container apart and causes it too
to fission, thus contributing to the explosion and producing fallout (the deposition of radioactive
materials from the atmosphere) in the process. (A neutron bomb is a thermonuclear device in which
the uranium container is absent, thus producing much less blast but a lethal "enhanced radiation"
of neutrons.) The entire series of explosions in a thermonuclear bomb takes a fraction of a
second to occur.A thermonuclear explosion produces blast, light, heat, and varying amounts of fallout.
The concussive force of the blast itself takes the form of a shock wave that radiates from the point of
the explosion at supersonic speeds and that can completely destroy any building within a radius of
several miles. The intense white light of the explosion can cause permanent blindness to people
gazing at it from a distance of dozens of miles. The explosion's intense light and heat set wood and
other combustible materials afire at a range of many miles, creating huge fires that may coalesce into
a firestorm. The radioactive fallout contaminates air, water, and soil and may continue years after the
explosion; its distribution is virtually worldwide.Thermonuclear bombs can be hundreds or even
thousands of times more powerful than atomic bombs. The explosive yield of atomic bombs is measured
in kilotons, each unit of which equals the explosive force of 1,000 tons of TNT. The explosive power
of hydrogen bombs, by contrast, is frequently expressed in megatons, each unit of which equals the
explosive force of 1,000,000 tons of TNT. Hydrogen bombs of more than 50 megatons have been
detonated, but the explosive power of the weapons mounted on strategic missiles usually ranges
from 100 kilotons to 1.5 megatons. Thermonuclear bombs can be made small enough (a few feet long)
to fit in the warheads of intercontinental ballistic missiles; these missiles can travel almost halfway
across the globe in 20 or 25 minutes and have computerized guidance systems so accurate that they
can land within a few hundred yards of a designated target.Edward Teller and other American scientists
developed the first hydrogen bomb, which was tested at Enewetak atoll on Nov. 1, 1952. The U.S.S.R.
first tested a hydrogen bomb on Aug. 12, 1953, followed by the United Kingdom in May 1957,
China (1967), and France (1968). During the late 1980s there were some 40,000 thermonuclear
devices stored in the arsenals of the world's nuclear-armed nations. This number declined during
the 1990s. The massive destructive threat of these weapons has been a principal concern of the
world's populace and of its statesmen since the 1950s

This page has many articles on nuclear weapons Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Also see www.uscoldwar.com

Electronic Weapons Of War:The E-Zapper

Transient electromagnetic devices are not hard to make and can be stuffed in a briefcase or into
a Van.They could ZAP our computer based infrastructure.None of these scenarios has happened yet,
but recent hearings before the Congress Joint Economic Committee,or JEC,under the leadership
of Chairman James Saxon,a New Jersey Republican,raise's a chilling possibility of terrorists threats
to the national infrastructure using  new developments in Radio Frequency,or RF,that any
handyman familiar with electronics and mechanics,could build such a device.For years,military
nations around the world have spent millions on devices that would generate and focus high powered
microwaves,pr HPM,aimed at disrupting the circuits of missiles,aircraft,satellites and command and
control computers.But there is another type of RF weapon that produces a single spike of energy
which envelopes the target across the entire electromagnetic spectrum,interrupting the flow of electrons
performing computer calculations,and in some cases damaging the microchip circuit themselves.This
one is called a transient electronic device,or TED.The TED is in fact based upon modern versions
of the spark-gap technology discovered by Michael Faraday in the 19th century.Any good engineering
student with access to a textbook or the Internet,could go to a Radio Shack and an auto
parts store and build one.Military experts long dismissed the possibility of a backyard bomber
coming up with a RF weapon.But the panel assembled by Saxton comes up with a more somber
assessment.Witnesses testified that the TED in-a-briefcase already has been developed by a Russian
technical institute and is for sale for $100,000 to interested parties.A witness from the Department
of Defense,said that the military takes the possibility of RF attacks so seriously that it has been testing
such effects live in the field on surplus Huey helicopter gunships. The threatfrom chemical/biological
warfare is now of a magnitude that has not been seen since the cold war.It is the same with nuclear proliferation.Now,because of our reliance on high-tech systems,computers,the threat of radio
frequency weapons is emerging as a serious threat.Our economies have been built
around the computer chip and associated networks.It has long been known that high
level nuclear explosions generate an electromagnetic pulse,or EMP,which on the battlefield can
have a devastating effect on other weapons and communications that control strategic commands.
The U.S. military has spent billions of dollars to develop hardening devices to shield critical systems
from EMP weapons.At the same time former Soviet States,includind Russia,and the The
United States have looked for ways to focus and generate high-powered microwaves as
a weapon without having to set off a nuclear explosion.

The Doomsday Bomb

The idea of the cobalt bomb originated with Leo Szilard who publicized it in Feb.1950,not as a
serious proposal for a weapon,but to point out that it would soon be possible in principle to build
a single weapon that would kill everyone on earth.To design such a weapon a radioactive isotope is
needed that can be dispersed world wide before it decays.The design would be reminiscent of a
fission-fusion-fission weapon.A thick cobalt metal blanket is used to capture the fusion neutrons to
maximize the fallout hazard.Instead of generating additional explosive force from fast fission U-238
the cobalt is transmuted into Co-60 which produces energetic & penetrating gamma rays.When Leo
Szilard visited Albert Einstein on Long Island,NY. to get his signature on a famous letter to Franklin
Roosevelt that sparked the atomic program it was Edward Teller (Inventor of the Hydrogen Bomb)
who drove the car.Edward Teller recommended that the United States set an example to the world
by continuing thermo nuclear research.Teller won the argument with the help of Joseph Stalin.
The Soviet Union had already tested their own atomic weapon and President Truman ordered a
crash program to build the hydrogen bomb since the U.S.S.R had already successfully detonated
their nuclear device and ended the United States monopoly on military superiority.
 

Brief History Of The Cold War

-------------------

  BIOLOGICAL WARFARE

Biological warfare agents are infectious microbes, including viruses, bacteria, and fungi, intended for use in warfare because of their pathogenic effects on people, animals, or plants. The development, production, and stockpiling of weapons based on them were outlawed by the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention, to which more than 100 states were party, including all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The treaty also covered weapons based on naturally occurring poisons, known as toxins, however produced. As with chemical weapons, actual employment of biological weapons was outlawed by the 1925 Geneva Protocol. At the time of their destruction in accordance with presidential directives of 1969 and 1970, the biological weapons of the United States (the only country for which authenticated information was available) included dry-powder or liquid-slurry formulations of the microbes that cause tularemia, Q fever, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, rice blast, and stem rust of wheat. They also included a number of toxins, such as paralytic shellfish poison. A variety of dispensers, both large and small, was also on hand. Biological weapons designed to dispense airborne clouds of pathogenic microbes could in theory kill or incapacitate unprotected populations over very large areas. Such weapons were never used.

Defense

The first and most important line of defense against chemical warfare agents (also needed for protection against radioactive fallout) was the individual protection provided by masks and protective clothing, and the collective protection of combat vehicles and mobile or fixed shelters. Filters for masks and shelters contained specially treated activated charcoal to remove vapours, and paper membranes or other materials to remove particles. Such filters typically could reduce the concentration of chemical (and biological) warfare agents by a factor of at least 100,000. Masks could be donned in less than 10 seconds and could be worn for long periods, even in sleep. Modern protective overgarments were made of fabric containing activated charcoal or other adsorptive forms of carbon. A complete suit typically weighed about four pounds (two kilograms). The fabric could breathe and pass water-vapour perspiration. In warm weather, periods of heavy exertion in full protective gear would have to be limited in order to avoid heat stress, or else protection would have to be partly relaxed, as by partially opening the protective jacket. Under common European conditions, military units routinely exercised at or near full protection for several days continuously. (see also Index: gas mask, filtration) Other items for chemical defense were detectors and alarms sensitive to nerve and blister agents, prophylactic and antidote drugs that would provide partial protection against nerve agents, and equipment for decontaminating people and equipment.

The effectiveness of chemical weapons against prepared forces would depend more on the interference with fighting performance imposed by wearing protective equipment and taking other precautions than on direct casualties. The extent of such interference, and hence the military value of chemicals in comparison with other weapons, was difficult to assess. Estimates, based on controlled field exercises, of the reduction in performance in military units under chemical attack ranged from near zero to more than 30 percent, depending on the mission and the conditions of the exercise.

History of  Use

Toxic smokes and other toxic substances were used occasionally in war from ancient times, but the earliest large-scale use of chemical warfare agents was in World War I. Preceded by both sides' sporadic use of various tear gases in artillery and other projectiles starting in 1914, it was the German attack with chlorine released from thousands of cylinders along a four-mile (six-kilometre) front at Ypres on April 22, 1915, that initiated the massive use of chemicals in that conflict. The wind-borne cloud totally broke the lines of the unprepared French Territorial and Algerian units in its path, but the attackers failed to exploit the opportunity. Although numerous chlorine gas-cloud attacks were subsequently carried out by both sides, they accomplished little, owing to the introduction of gas masks and other protective measures. (see also Index: Ypres, Battles of) As other gases and more effective delivery methods were introduced, so too were improved defenses. Notable among offensive improvements were respiratory agents more poisonous than chlorine, such as phosgene, and chemicals that blistered the skin and attacked the eyes, especially mustard gas. The defense kept pace, with the introduction of better gas masks, protective clothing, and battlefield tactics for minimizing exposure. More than 100,000 tons of various chemical warfare agents were used in World War I; but gas was an unimportant weapon in overall military terms, largely because of the effectiveness of defenses against it.

In World War II, chemical weapons were stockpiled by both sides, but they were not used and were not integrated into military planning. Records indicated various reasons for this: (1) military opinion that chemical weapons would be no more effective than conventional weapons and would complicate and delay operations, (2) fear of retaliation, especially against civilian centres, and (3) aversion to gas warfare by political and military leaders, reflecting the proscriptions of the Geneva Protocol.

Chemical weapons were used in only a few of the more than 200 wars fought after World War I. In each case--as in Ethiopia (1935-36), China (1938-42), the Yemen (1966-67), and Iraq-Iran (1984-88)--chemicals were used against forces initially lacking gas masks.

CHEMICAL WARFARE

Chemical warfare agents are substances, whether gaseous, liquid, or solid, intended for use in warfare because of their direct toxic effects on people, animals, or plants. Worldwide revulsion toward chemical weapons is embodied in the Geneva Protocol of 1925, prohibiting "the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids, materials or devices." More than 140 states, including all major nations, are parties to the Protocol of 1925.

POISONS OF BIOLOGICAL ORIGIN

Biotoxins can be conveniently grouped into three major categories: (1) microbial toxins, poisons produced by bacteria, blue-green algae, dinoflagellates, golden-brown algae, etc., (2) phytotoxins, poisons produced by plants, and (3) zootoxins, poisons produced by animals. The geographic distribution of poisonous organisms varies greatly; poison-producing microorganisms tend to be ubiquitous in their distribution. Poisonous plants and animals are found in greatest abundance and varieties in warm-temperate and tropical regions. Relatively few toxic organisms of any kind are found in polar latitudes.Knowledge of the evolutionary significance and development of most biotoxins is largely speculative and poorly understood. In some instances they may have developed during the evolution of certain animal species as part of the food procurement mechanism (e.g., in snakes; cnidarians, jellyfishes, and their relatives; mollusks, octopuses, and others; and spiders). Biotoxins may also function as defensive mechanisms, as in some snakes, fishes, arthropods (e.g., insects, millipedes), and others. The defense may be quite complex--as in the protection of territorial rights for reproductive purposes--and inhibitory or antibiotic substances may be produced that result in the exclusion of competitive animal or plant species. Certain marine organisms and terrestrial plants may release into the water, air, or soil inhibitory substances that discourage the growth of other organisms; well-known examples include the production of antibiotic substances by microorganisms. Similar chemical-warfare mechanisms are used in battles for territorial rights among the inhabitants of a coral reef, a field, or a forest. Thus biotoxins play important roles in the regulation of natural populations. Of increasing interest has been the discovery that certain substances, which may be toxic to one group of organisms, may serve a vital function in the life processes of the source organism.

Biological Membranes

The availability of radioactive isotopes provided the technology necessary for understanding how molecules are transported across biological membranes, which are the very thin boundaries of living cells; the environment maintained by membranes in cells differs from the external environment and permits cellular function. The Danish physiologist August Krogh laid the groundwork in this subject; his pupil, Hans Ussing, developed the conceptual means by which the transport of ions (charged atoms) across membranes can be identified. Ussing's definition of active transport made possible an understanding, at the cellular level, of the way in which ions and water are pumped into and out of living cells in order to regulate the ionic composition and water balance in cells, organs, and organisms. The molecular mechanism by which these processes occur, however, remains to be discovered. In addition to the function of transport, membranes also are utilized as templates on which such molecules as enzymes, which must function in a sequential fashion, can be kept in the requisite order. Although great progress has been made in understanding the mechanisms by which specific atoms are assembled into large biological molecules, the principles involved in the assembly of molecules into membranes, which are organized structures of a higher degree of complexity than large molecules, are not yet very well understood. There is reason to believe that the incorporation of a molecule into a membrane endows it with properties that differ from those of a molecule in solution. A primary task of biophysics is to understand the physical character of these cooperative interactions that are essential to life.

     Gas Masks

Breathing device designed to protect the wearer against harmful substances in the air. The typical gas mask consists of a tight-fitting facepiece that contains filters, an exhalation valve, and transparent eyepieces. It is held to the face by straps and can be worn in association with a protective hood. The filter elements in the cheeks of the mask remove contaminants from the air that is drawn through the mask by the wearer's inhaling. The filters, which can be replaced, clean the air but do not add oxygen to it (some masks are connected by a hose to a separate tank of oxygen). The most common filters employ fibre screens (to strain out finely divided solid particles) and chemical compounds such as charcoal (to capture or chemically alter poisonous gases in the air). Charcoal absorbs and holds a fairly large volume of poisonous gases.Gas masks are widely used by the world's armed forces. Although it is possible to design filtering devices that will neutralize almost any specific toxic substance in the air, it is impossible to combine in one mask protection against all toxic substances. Military gas masks are accordingly constructed with a view to counteracting those chemicals that are thought most likely to be used in wartime. Gas masks are effective only against those chemical-warfare agents that are dispersed as true gases and are injurious when breathed. Agents such as mustard gas that are dispersed in liquid form and attack the body through the skin surface necessitate the use of special protective clothing in addition to gas masks.

Missile Weapon

An instrument used in combat for the purpose of killing, injuring, or defeating an enemy. A weapon may be a shock weapon, held in the hands, such as the club, mace, or sword. It may also be a missile weapon, operated by muscle power (as with the javelin, sling, and bow and arrow), mechanical power (as with the crossbow and catapult), or chemical power (as with the rocket and missile and such guns as the cannon, rifle, and pistol). Weapons may also be classified as conventional, destroying by kinetic energy (as with the bullet) or by chemical energy (as with the bomb and grenade). The nonconventional category comprises nuclear weapons, such as the atomic bomb and thermonuclear bomb, as well as weapons of chemical warfare and biological warfare. All the aforementioned are offensive weapons, but such defensive measures as fortification, armour, and the helmet have also been considered weapons.For some basic motives such as hunger, thirst, and sex, a biological approach emphasizing regulatory mechanisms has dominated the thinking of researchers. The fundamental premise has been that such basic motives are homeostatically regulated--that is, the nervous system monitors levels of energy, fluid balance, and hormone production (in the case of sex) and alters motivation when these levels deviate too far from some optimum level.As was mentioned earlier, the study of the relationships of living things to each other and to their environment is known as ecology. Because these interrelationships are so important to the welfare of Earth and because they can be seriously disrupted by man's activities, ecology is becoming one of the most important branches of biology.
 

Latest News by Chronological Date Below

The Threat of A Israel & Iran Nuclear War
-------------------------October 19, 2004
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The Israeli nuclear weapons program grew out of the conviction that the Holocaust justified any measures Israel took to ensure its survival. Consequently, Israel has been actively investigating the nuclear option from its earliest days. The program took another step forward with the creation of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) in 1952. Its chairman, Ernst David Bergmann, had long advocated an Israeli bomb as the best way to ensure "that we shall never again be led as lambs to the slaughter."  The United States first became aware of Israel's nuclear facility's existence after U-2 over flights in 1958 captured the facility's construction, but it was not identified as a nuclear site until two years later. The complex was variously explained as a textile plant, an agricultural station, and a metallurgical research facility, until Israel stated in December 1960 that it's complex was a nuclear research center built for "peaceful purposes."  This is an exact echo of Iran's explanation of it's current nuclear plant.

In early 1968, the CIA issued a report concluding that Israel had successfully started production of uclear weapons. This estimate, however, was based on an informal conversation between Carl Duckett, head of the CIA's Office of Science and Technology, and Edward Teller, father of the hydrogen bomb. Teller said that, based on conversations with friends in the Israeli scientific and defense establishment, he had concluded that Israel was capable of building the bomb. By the late 1990s the U.S. Intelligence Community estimated that Israel possessed between 75-130 weapons, based on production estimates. The stockpile would certainly include warheads for mobile missile launchers, as well as bombs for Israeli aircraft. One Israeli commentator recommended that Israel should signal Iraq that “any Iraqi action against Israeli civilian populations, with or without gas, may leave Iraq without Baghdad which emplied Israel would use and launch nuclear weapons againt Iraq.

By analysisng the past military of the Israeli-Arab conflict, the Iran nuclear plant brings back the possibliity of a near future war where nuclear weapons will be used. It would be a reasonable assumption that The United States would intervene in any Israel an Arab conflict, and that the Russians would no doubt intervene and help Iran to defend itself from a Israel nuclear attack. The Arab nations as well would be allies of Iran and European nations may be split on whom they would show allegence to. Iran may be forced into a posistion to manufacture nuclear weapons in order to use as a deterant of a nuclear strike as it's global location is a virtual atomic zone. Iran borders with Pakistan which is now a nuclear threat, India borders Pakistan and India is a nuclear threat. Other nations with the capabilities of a short launched nuclear weapon include Russia, China, France, and The United Kingdom. The United States can launch a nuclear attack on any nation in the world, and the US has proven it will use nuclear weapons as demonstrated in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II in which over 150,000
human civilians were killed instantly.

---------------Iran Completes Nuclear Plant's Construction
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On October 14,2004 Russia and Iran said they had finished construction of an atomic power plant in the Islamic Republic, a project the United States fears Tehran could use to make nuclear arms.  Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian Parliament's Foreign Affairs and National Security Commission, confirmed the construction phase at Bushehr.  Iran says it will reject any proposal for a complete halt to such activities as  its uranium enrichment programme even if The UK, France and Germany present a package aimed at convincing Tehran to give up nuclear ambitions. Iran repeated  it had a "right" to master the sensitive nuclear fuel cycle, ahead of an expected proposal from Europe calling for Tehran to abandon such work in exchange for diplomatic and trade incentives. "So far we have not yet received the European proposals. But they will be acceptable if they respect our national interests and recognize our legitimate right to the civil nuclear technology, especially the nuclear fuel cycle," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. "Our right is not negotiable, but we will obtain our right through negotiation and dialogue," he added By mastering the fuel cycle, Iran could gain the "option" of developing nuclear arms. Enriched uranium, depending on its level of purity, could be used for both power plants and the core of a warhead. The Russian built nuclear reactor in the Iranian city of Bushehr, is set to be launched in 2005.

The French Foreign Ministry said France and its G-8 partners should call for a complete suspension by Iran of its advanced uranium enrichment program. "Time is of the essence. France will continue to work with its partners and the Iranian authorities  toward the complete suspension by Iran of its enrichment and reprocessing activities," the ministry said in a press statement. The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, reported to the board of governors on September 1, 2004, that Iran intended to convert 37 metric tons of yellowcake into uranium hexafluoride, the "feed" material that is enriched in gas centrifuges. It was a surprising revelation as 37 metric tons is a small quantity for a civilian nuclear power program. But it would be a large amount for a fledgling nuclear weapons program, enough material to make roughly five crude nuclear weapons. Iranian officials reportedly added they would likely start enriching uranium in fall 2004.

Questions remain about whether Iran has conducted activities to research, test, and produce a nuclear weapon itself, a process called nuclear weaponization. Although the U.S. government and Israel have stated for years that Iran has a nuclear weapons program, they have not provided the IAEA or the public with the location of any nuclear weaponization sites or any direct evidence of such activities. One theory is that the Khan network, which supplied both Libya's and Iran's gas centrifuge program, supplied Iran with a weapon design. The design supplied to Libya appears to be for a Chinese warhead that was tested on a missile in the mid-1960s and provided to Pakistan in the early 1980s.  If Iran received this information, it would have been able to short-circuit the difficult process of developing a deliverable nuclear warhead. If it received the designs several years ago, Iran could have already finished all the necessary research and development for a nuclear warhead, and perhaps even stockpiled key components. In early June 2004, ABC News received information about Lavizan, in the northeastern section of Tehran. ABC asked the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) for help in assessing the information. The initial information suggested the site was involved in some type of nuclear weaponization. The Lavizan site was also known to house radiation detection devices called whole-body counters, which Iran procured overseas in the early 1990s under false pretenses. The Iranians described Lavizan as owned by the Military Industrialization Organization but a September 2004 report says that Iran had declared the site as a place to study "preparedness to combat and neutralization of casualties due to nuclear attacks and accidents and also support and provide scientific advice and services to the Ministry of  Defense. The presence of this site has increased suspicion that the site might be involved in researching nuclear weapons. One Israeli intelligence report, a portion of which was leaked to the media, claims that Iran could obtain it's first nuclear weapon by early 2007. The U.S. intelligence community assessment is reportedly that Iran could have a nuclear weapon in three to five years. Two years have passed since secret Iranian nuclear sites were first brought to public attention, and Iran appears unwilling to abandon its fissile material production programs. Iran has too often dictated the pace of diplomatic progress, giving the impression that it is playing for time. In the next one or two years, Iran could build up unstoppable institutional and public momentum to finish and operate its enrichment plant or a heavy-water reactor and outlast the current international diplomatic effort.

----China's 40th Anniversary of Detonating it's First Nuclear Weapon
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The People's Republic of China joined the rank of nations with atomic bomb capability, after a successful nuclear test on October 16, 1964. China was the fifth member of this exclusive club, joining the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France. American officials were not terribly surprised by the test; intelligence reports since the 1950s indicated that China was working to develop an atomic bomb, possibly aided by Soviet technicians and scientists. Nevertheless, the successful test did cause concern in the U.S. government. During the early 1960s, China took a particularly radical stance that advocated worldwide revolution against the forces of capitalism, working strenuously to extend its influence in Asia and the new nations of Africa. The test, coming just two months after the Tonkin Gulf Resolution (a congressional resolution giving President Lyndon B. Johnson the power to respond to communist aggression in Vietnam) created a frightening specter of nuclear confrontation and conflict in Southeast Asia.

IRAN SOON TO BE A  NUCLEAR POWER

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Iranian president Mohammad Khatami says "no country can prevent us" from enriching uraniums.
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OCTOBER 2004: Iran announced the success of  a miliatery strategic missile test and declared it's ready for any attack from a hostile threat. The Iranian media reported that the missile was more advanced than the Shahab-3 missile. This new missile has the range to reach targets such Israel and stationed American forces in The Middle East. The United Nations demanded that Iran freeze it's uranium enrichment program. Many nations believe that Iran's uranium program will be used for manufacturing of atomic weapons while Iran claims it's uranium program is being developed for peaceful purposes. In June of 2004 Iran warned European governments they might regret pandering to Tehran's archfoe Washington by submitting a strongly critical draft resolution on Iran's nuclear programme to the UN watchdog. Iran maybe only one to three years away from being able to make nuclear weapons, and a growing number of nuclear experts worry that there may be no way to stop it from becoming the world's 10th nuclear weapons state..Iran is a theocratic Islamic republic governed under the constitution of 1979, as revised in 1989, when presidential powers were expanded and the post of prime minister eliminated. Appointed, rather than elected, offices and bodies hold the real power in the government. The supreme leader, who effectively serves as the chief of state, is appointed for life by an Islamic religious advisory board.
------------------THE MX MISSILE

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--THE MX MISSILE PROJECT 1979~1996
-Total Yield 300  to 3000 Kilotons per Missile
A MX can contain 5 to 10 multiple 300 kiloton war heads
1 kiloton    = One ton (  2000 pounds of TNT  )
1 megaton = One Million (  2,000,000 pounds of TNT  )

The MX, also called The Peace keeper missile is America's newest intercontinental ballistic missile.  The Peace keeper (designated LGM-118A) is a four stage intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying up to ten independently targetable reentry vehicles with greater accuracy than any other ballistic missile. Its design combines advanced technology in fuels, guidance, nozzle design, and motor construction with protection against the hostile nuclear environment associated with land based systems. The Peacekeeper is a three stage rocket ICBM system consisting of three major sections: the boost system, the post boost vehicle system and the re-entry system. The post boost vehicle also employed a self contained inertial navigation system that allowed the missile to operate independent of ground reference or commands during flight. The top section of the Peacekeeper is the re-entry system. It consists of the deployment module, up to 10 cone shaped re-entry vehicles and a protective shroud. The shroud protects the re-entry vehicles during ascent. It is topped with a nose cap, containing a rocket motor to separate it from the deployment module. Each deployed re-entry vehicle follows a ballistic path to its target.

President Carter made his 12 June 1979 decision to proceed with full scale engineering development of the Missile-X. The President augmented this decision on 7 September 1979 and full scale engineering development began one week later. In the 1980s President Reagan instructed the Air Force to conduct a technical assessment to deploy an ICBM quickly as a demonstration of national resolve to preserve deterrence and the United States global nuclear supremacy and it's capability to launch a full nuclear strike of mass destruction against any threat to American security. The Air Force successfully conducted the first test flight of the Peacekeeper June 17, 1983, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The missile traveled 4,190 miles (6,704 kilometers) before dropping six unarmed test re-entry vehicles on planned target sites in the Kwajalein Missile Test Range in the Pacific Ocean. The first two test phases consisted of 12 test flights to ensure the Peacekeeper's subsystems performed as planned, and to make final assessments of its range and payload capability.

Peacekeeper production began in February 1984 with the production of 50 MX missiles. The second increment of 50 MX missiles would replace Minuteman IIIs missiles belonging to the 319th Strategic Missile Squadron. The completion date of the deployment was scheduled for December 1989. Under the rail garrison plan concept, the Peacekeeper missiles would be placed on trains stationed at various U.S. Air Force installations. The 25 trains, each carrying two missiles, would deploy off base and onto the national railroad network during periods of international tension to improve survivability. In February 1987, the Air Force selected ten additional bases as candidate rail garrison locations. That same year, Congress appropriated $350 million to fund rail garrison research and development. Exercises conducted in 1988 tested and refined the concept of operations, and in May the Secretary of Defense authorized the Air Force to proceed with Peacekeeper Rail Garrison full scale development. The Air Force achieved initial operational capability of 10 deployed Peacekeepers at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo., in December 1986. Full operational capability was achieved in December 1988 with the establishment of a squadron of 50 missiles.

The specifications of the MX-Peacekeeper Missile are;
Name; The MX  Intercontinental ballistic missile
Length: 71 feet
Weight: 195,000 pounds
Diameter: 7 feet, 8 inches
Range: Greater than 6,000 miles
Speed: Approximately 15,000 miles per hour
Warheads: 10 Avco MK 21 re-entry vehicle nuclear war heads
Yield: 300 to 3,000 Kilotons depending on individual war heads per missile
Unit Cost: $70 million

There are two types of nuclear reactions which are used in nuclear weapons. The nucleus of some heavy elements like Uranium or Plutonium can split into two roughly equal sized nuclei with the release of energy. Such a process is known as nuclear fission. The fission reaction can occur spontaneously in the fissile material. The reaction is also self sustaining. Namely the fission of one nucleus induces the fission of nearby ones and so on, leading to what is called a chain reaction. If a sufficient amount of fissile material is concentrated in one place then the chain reaction proceeds very fast leading to an explosion. On the other hand certain very light elements like isotopes of hydrogen undergo nuclear fusion. In this process, two light nuclei can combine to form a single nucleus with the release of energy. This is the process by which energy is generated in the core of the sun and other stars. The fusion reaction requires very high temperatures and density before it can get initiated. All nuclear weapons use these two reactions in different ways. From the military usage point of view, they are classified as either tactical weapons or strategic weapons. Tactical weapons are low yield weapons that meant to be used in the battlefield against military formations. Strategic weapons are high yield weapons to be used against civilian populations in big cities.

 Thermonuclear Weapons, The Neutron Bomb, The Doomsday Bomb

Thermonuclear weapons, also called hydrogen bombs, get most of their yield from the fusion reaction. As in the case of boosted fission weapons, they require a fission explosion to trigger fusion, called the primary stage, to initiate the fusion reaction which is called the secondary stage. However unlike the boosted weapons, thermonuclear weapons contain a substantial amount of fusion fuel and most of their yield comes from fusion. Indeed these are the most powerful of nuclear weapons, often with yields of a few megatons. A third fission stage can also be added to produce very high yield weapons. The most powerful nuclear weapon to have been tested so far is the Tsar Bomba, a 50 megaton three stage weapon exploded by the USSR on 30th October 1961. Enhanced radiation weapons, also called neutron bombs are small tactical thermonuclear weapons which are designed to produce intense nuclear radiation. These weapons are designed to kill soldiers protected by armour (eg. inside tanks). The radiation produced by the neutron bombs can easily penetrate the armour of the tanks and kill the humans inside them. Salted Nuclear Weapons, or cobalt bombs, are thermonuclear weapons which are designed to produce a large amount of long lasting radioactive fallout. This would result in large scale radioactive contamination of the area they are dropped in. The difference between the fallout from the salted weapons and the unsalted one is that the former is much more in quantity and also has a much longer lifetime. The fallout remains radioactive for much longer. The long term effects of such weapons would therefore be much worse. These weapons are called Doomsday Devices since they could possibly kill everyone on earth.

The energy of a nuclear explosion is released in a number of different ways, all of which are lethal which is putting it mildly to say the least. The magnitude of the nuclear blast effect ( generally measured in pounds per square inch ) diminishes with distance from the center of the explosion. A burst on the surface produces the greatest over pressure at very close ranges (which is why surface bursts are used to attack very hard, very small targets such as missile silos), but less over pressure than an air burst at somewhat longer ranges.  Raising the height of the burst reduces the over pressure directly under the bomb, but widens the area at which a given smaller over pressure is produced. Thus, an attack on factories with a 1-Mt weapon might use an air burst at an altitude of 8,000 feet [2,400 m], which would maximize the area (about 28 mi2 [7,200 hectares]) that would receive 10 psi or more of over pressure. Nuclear weapons inflict ionizing radiation on people, animals, and plants in two different ways. Direct radiation occurs at the time of the explosion; it can be very intense, but its range is limited. Fallout radiation is received from particles that are made radioactive by the effects of the explosion, and subsequently distributed at varying distances from the site of the blast. Direct radiation did substantial damage to the residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.in WWII when the first atom bombs were detonated. These two nuclear bombs were named Little Boy and Fat Man. The death toll of these explosions exceeded 150,000.

Approximately 35 percent of the energy from a nuclear explosion is an intense burst of thermal radiation heat. The effects are roughly analogous to the effect of a 2 second flash from an enormous sun lamp. Since the thermal radiation travels at the speed of light (actually a bit slower, since it is deflected by particles in the atmosphere), the flash of light and heat precedes the blast wave by several seconds, just as lightning is seen before the thunder is heard. Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is an electro-magnetic wave similar to radio waves, which results from secondary reactions occurring when the nuclear gamma radiation is absorbed in the air or ground. It is similar to the electrical signal from lightning, but the rise in voltage is typically a hundred times faster. This means that most equipment designed to protect electrical facilities from lightning works too slowly to be effective against EMP. The strength of an EMP will destroy or damage the communications and electric power systems of the intended explosion area.

SPACE WEAPONS DEPLOYMENT

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JULY 2004: The June, 2004 death of former United States president Ronald Reagan was not the death of his STAR WARS Space based weapons system. The political and military view of STAR WARS was deemed that it's purpose was strictly a defensive ploy to shoot down any weapons launched against the United States. This analyst of STAR WARS is true to a certain degree but it's major objective is using these space based orbiting satellites to attack adversary nations from space by destroying their key elements of communications and infrastructure, thus causing chaos and anarchy. These space based weapons add enormous flexibility with their targeting capabilities to destroy and neutralize any nation which poses a threat to The United States. Any weapon designed under the guise for defensive deployment can be used as a offensive alternative as well.

Laser Airborne Optics

BIG BROTHER & LASER WARFARE

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Libya's Admits Seeking Weapons

But Libya is no Iran or North Korea. Many Arab nations have asked that Israel be subjected to the same sanctions as other Arab nations are. Israel has possessed a large nuclear arsenal since the 1960s, compliments of The United States. The difference here is that Israel has been surrounded by Arab nations who wish Israel's destruction, thus making Israel's nuclear arsenal a true deterrent. Iran may very well feel the same threat from Israel, thus advancing it's nuclear program and development of nuclear weapons as a deterrent for fear of a Israel nuclear strike. Iran already has admitted to withholding information from The International Atomic Energy Agency and now as agreed to stricter inspections. With the fall of Saddam Hussein and the former Soviet Union, one might argue this point concerning the disarmament of Israel. But, there will always be some new threat or dictator in the Mid East, or Europe, that would destroy Israel or The Jewish people. It's been that way for 4,000 years.

And let's not forget Pakistan and India's recent membership into the nations with nuclear weapons. The fall of The Soviet Union did not mean it's fall or loss of thermonuclear weapons. The area of the old Soviet Union still has the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world today which is burdened with the poorest security to protect it. A terrorist organization or a nation could buy a nuclear device from numerous sources and detonate it on a chosen city, it's just a matter of time.

FROM THE COLD WAR TO STAR WARS

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2003 DECEMBER; Since The United States withdrew from the ABM Treaty in 2002 it has paved the way for a missile defense system. The Pentagon awarded the government contract to Northrop Grumman and Raytheon for the development of a high speed rocket to intercept and destroy a incoming missile aimed at American soil.. Northrop Grumman CEO Ronald Sugar stated it will be fully deployable from a land or sea based launch site. Japan and Australia have already shown support of the missile system and wish to be participants. No doubt other nations will follow due to the recent actions of North Korea which now has at least a few nuclear missiles ready for launch and Iran will no doubt have the same nuclear capabilities in the very near future.

The American Physical Society has raised serious doubts about the system where a missile is launched to hit another missile in flight. Physicist Fredrick Lamb, who is a American Physical Society chairman stated, "  It's more difficult than people had thought."  To explain part of the problem, Lamb stated that solid-fuel missiles would be virtually impossible to bring down with the current technology available, and won't likely be available within the next 10 to 15 years. Lamb ended his opinion with this, "We aren't saying that a boost-phase missile to intercept a solid-fuel missile is impossible and this theory doesn't violate the laws of physics. But is it worth the expense? Can't we make ourselves safer by spending the money on something else?" Clearly a judgment call needs to be made concerning the expense, the time, and the resources of such a missile system. But intelligent judgment calls of this nature have taken a back seat and reason has went the way of the dinosaur, it has become extinct.

In the year 2004, ten interceptor missiles will be operational and the so-called shield of defense will become a reality. Our
site has reported on this story before but felt it needed another view and the perspective of it's function. The beginning of this type of defense stems from a speech made in 1983 by the United States President Ronald Reagan. His speech included the term STAR WARS which was what he visioned as a space satellite, or a space station capable to intercept and then destroy missiles launched by another country before hitting American soil. The now infamous Reagan speech contained the usual political rhetoric and a distorted view of the technology and the enormous cost of such a program. President Reagan's speech contained, " I call upon the american scientific community, those who have given us the atomic bomb and other nuclear weapons to turn their great talents and proceed with the STAR WARS technology in the name of mankind and world peace."  The cost of the current deployment of a missile defense system will be 9 billion dollars a year for the next five years. The cost of actually deploying this system and it's various components and operations could reach 1 trillion dollars.

Our government's current mind set is still in the cold war era of The United States and the now collapsed Soviet Union. Many
people who are in The Pentagon feel that the mere fact that The United States would have a missile shield will be a deterrent to any country involved in a missile launch against The United States. The cold war ended over a decade ago but the fear of a nuclear strike remains possible. One Pentagon official stated that the system's success at hitting a incoming missile would be zero. The idea of knocking down a bullet with another bullet is virtually impossible, and even if it were possible, the detonation of a nuclear weapon in the atmosphere may cause less damage than one exploding on the ground, and perhaps it might cause more damage due to a major fall out, or the unknown effect it would create since a test of a atmospheric nuclear explosion has never been attempted.

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A Nuclear Test of a Hydrogen Bomb in 1946 which yielded a force of 21 kilotons. The bomb site was Bikini Atoll.
The image below is of various military and scientists watching a another test of a Nuclear bomb in the area called
Enewetak Atoll in 1951 which yielded a force of 81 kilotons. The man credited with these historic photographs had
Michael Light, author of the book 100 SUNS stating, "It exists. It happened. It is happening. May no future nuclear
detonation photographs be made, ever." How soon we forget that history repeats itself and the folly of mankind.
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NUCLEAR WAR GROWS NEARER

AUGUST 2003 The Global Nation's Nuclear community grows larger and the threat of a World War holocaust
looms in the near future.Above a North Korean rally of over one million people gather to celebrate North Korea's withdrawl from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Already in a earlier missile testing one of Korean's test missiles flew over the Japanese mainlandand has caused massive concern in the Asian community. Pictured on the left is the near completion of Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor. In July of 2003 Iran conducted a successful missile test of it's Shahab-3 missile, which can carry a 2,200 pound payload as far as 1,500 kilometers. Iran's announcement of it's successfull test suggested to the world that the Shahab-3 missile is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Below 2003 Iran Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei observes Shab-3 Missile.
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The US Building Up It's Nuclear Arsenal

JUNE 19, 2003: Not only is The United States accelerating in new and more powerful super computers they are also rebuilding their nuclear arsenal. Over $500 million in construction is already being used by building missile silos in areas of Alaska. One Alaskan silo located in Fort Greely, near Delta Junction, Alaska is projected to be fully operational by the year 2004. Numerous missile silos which are under construction are intended for a missile defense system for the protection against incoming war heads launched at the United States. But even if the theory of a defense system were to work in which a missile would be fired at another incoming missile, the nuclear blast in the atmosphere would be almost as devastating as a ground impact. One can only wonder why The United States condemns countries like North Korea and now Iran on their nuclear projects while The United States is building up it's own arsenal. The United States is the only nation in history ( So far. ) that has used nuclear weapons war, so as a outsider I can understand the concerns of other countries and the concerns of
the American people. A atomic detonation in the atmosphere would rain radiation over thousands of square miles thus
contaminating food, water, and human beings as well.  On June 19, 2003 The Wall Street Journal reported the International Atomic Energy board had met due to the concerns of Iran's open development of nuclear weapons. President George Bush was reported as saying the world must come together to make it clear to Iran that it will not tolerate the construction of
nuclear weapons. As for myself, I would rather die in a nuclear blast rather than live in the aftermath of  a nuclear explosion.

THE WORLD'S NUCLEAR ARSENOL GROWING

The Central Intelligence Agency has long believed that North Korea probably reprocessed enough nuclear material before its 1994 "freeze" agreement with the United States to develop two nuclear weapons during the first Bush administration. But the evidence has always been murky, based partly on an assessment of North Korea's technical capabilities. North Korea has never tested a nuclear device, and it is unclear whether it could make one small enough to deliver on one of its ballistic missiles
as of May 2003. Mr. Bush has limited time to find a way to stop North Korea's program before it obtains a sizable enough arsenal to store some weapons and threaten to sell others. North Korean negotiator, Li Gun, suggested to American officials that whether North Korea tested or marketed its nuclear materials would depend on American actions. North Korea possesses the fifth largest standing military army in the world with over 1 million armed soldiers.

North Korean President Kim Jong and his nuclear weapons program would have a horrific effect on the stability of Asia and the rest of the world. China's nuclear arsenal is no secret and the tensions between the latest nuclear brotherhood of nations
which now include India and Pakistan whom are at conflict makes this region of the world a prime target for nuclear war.
India and Pakistan have broken a two year silence to negotiate some sort of resolve over the disputed Himalayan region which both nations have claimed as their province and have almost brought them to the brink of war, possibly a nuclear conflict. Pakistan's Zafarullah and India's Atal Bihari had a brief 10 minute phone conference in April of 2003 to discuss possible
peace options and to advert a war.

Much more was revealed when Iran's nuclear capabilities where far more advanced than reported. Iran has already began a uranium enrichment plant in the city of Nantanz, located in central Iran. The United States has made allegations that Iran intends to withdraw from Non-Proliferation Treaty which would permit it to manufacture nuclear weapons, the same step than North Korea took in 2002. Iran will soon be a nuclear threat ( if not already ) and Israel will defend itself against any nuclear attack from the Arab world with their nuclear arsenal. North Korea has passed ballistic missile technology to Iran, Syria, and Pakistan and possibly nuclear technology  as well. These nations all have one thing in common, they have poor economies, and starving populations which is a dangerous combination in any governmental situation.

North Korea On Verge of Nuclear ICBM Capabilities

September,1999
Pyongyang tentatively agrees to halt missile tests.North Korea has agreed to a deal with the
United States to halt testing of its long-range ballistic missiles while the two countries continue
talks on improving relations, U.S. National Security Adviser Samuel Berger saidTuesday. In
return, the United States is considering measures to ease sanctions against the reclusive communist
state, Berger told reporters.North Korea's launch of of a three stage ballistic missile test that
flew over Japan in 1998 stunned governments around the region.US Military experts warn the
possibility of nations such as North Korea,Iraq and Iran will acquire the technology and be able to
deliver ballistic missiles on United States soil within t