In a message dated 7/16/2001 12:32:54 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
neptune@mars.superlink.net writes:
<< You have to also ask yourself, why North Korea -- the archetypal rogue
state
in most public discourse -- is building long range missle technology. I
think it has more to do with having a threat than using it, but that's my
guess. I'm not inside their leader's head. >>
Its easier to send an ICBM on its course 35 minutes around the world then it
is having someone in place ( constantly) to set-off a suitcase nuke-which
invariably has Less Killing Potential, then a Mirved Nuke. Even if the Mirv
warheads are loaded with gene-spliced anthrax, that alone, might guarantee a
greater killing capacity then a suitcase nuke, simply because one may strike
at several separated locations, rather then punishing New York City, or
Washington, DC.
Typically, the suitcase nukes have a detonation yield, of some 1-5 killions,
which is smaller then the Hiroshima strike of 20 kilotons and the Nagasaki
stike of 12 kiloton yields. The "Davy Crocket" level backback nukes,
developed in 1956 were designed to detonate at 1/2 kiloton-1kiloton level
explosions. These were the "landmine" nukes that would be used to eliminate a
Soviet on-slaught through the Fulda Gap in Germany.
Mitch
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:39:48 MDT