Fallout 0.9

[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by August

Sure if every nuke in both arsenals were lit off that would definitely destroy most if not all life on the planet but in the 1950's and early 60's there was no real guarantee that this would happen.

The possibility existed and perhaps still does that good air and sea defenses might keep all but a small fraction of nukes from reaching their targets, especially the bombers.

In that scenario a small family bunker out in the burbs might not be an unreasonable insurance policy, at least in the thinking of the times.

I beg to differ.For starters the air defense network never actually got put to the full test so we really have no idea how effectively or poorly it would have actually performed.

Today the threat from a bomber would be from an air launched cruise missile much harder to kill the parent aircraft in time and then much much harder to kill the cruise missile.Not to mention the ICBM threat which is still very real targeting your vital military locations but cutting off the head of the US military would make us very very weak.

Once the ICBM came into common use by the early 60's the likely hood gets even lower because some of the first targets after know silo locations would have been every major airbase that SAC had and also every airbase that F-101B(including RCAF),F102,F-106s flew from meaning that if they got up in time they would only be able to fly one sortie because their base would get vaporized.

From the late 50's to well just in the past 10 years there was nothing that could stop a MIRV and the ICBM being the big daddy and two parts of the triad USAF silos and US Navy subs that should make it pretty clear that the only real defense was to make it clear that we would deliver a decisive blow against the USSR that does not mean that a few hundred nukes would hit us anyway.The current ballistic missile defense system has not been put to the full test either and for every counter there is a counter.I'm sure some loose lipped sell out has given the Russians info on it.

Have you spoken to anyone that was in SAC or the NORAD end of TAC back in the day? I suspect not as they would not have you feeling so optimistic.Not to say that those folks did not try their best but it was what it was.

Just the few hits that would make it threw in the most "ideal" exchange back in the day would have covered or vital mid-west bread basket with fallout which means starvation for millions for generations.

You seem to have forgotten an event that occurred in October of '62.In 1962 USAF SAC had 203 ICBM type warheads ready for action today the USAF have 500.

It does not matter anyway because the Indians and the Pakistanis are going to use their nuke are each other sooner or later and they have several hundred each so that fallout alone will rain on our parade.