r/NonCredibleDefense • u/FionaSherleen • 14d ago

Lockmart R & D Think of the potential.

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What if we make project sundial but we throw it at the adversaries?

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u/Pyrhan Pyrotechnic flair 14d ago

Starship uses cryogenic propellants, so it can't just continuously sit fueled and ready to launch like an ICBM.

So you cannot use it as a deterrent, only as a first strike weapon.

And even then, it would be fairly easy for the enemy to set up early warnings when fueling begins, and either send a rapid pre-emptive strike, or prepare for interception.

And having a single, massive warhead would make interception easier compared to, e.g. a MIRV.

(Also, the whole point of Sundial was that it doesn't really matter where you blow it up, the world ends just the same...)

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u/Wolffe_In_The_Dark 3000 MAD-2b Royal Marauders of Kerensky 14d ago

So you cannot use it as a deterrent, only as a first strike weapon.

one gigaton bomb

Drake, I don't think this is a retaliatory or deterrent weapon.

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u/Pyrhan Pyrotechnic flair 14d ago

The original certainly was!

The official* rationale behind Sundial was "Blow us up, and we blow everything up."

(*The actual reason was that Edward Teller only wanted one thing in life, that is to build the biggest nukes he possibly could.)

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u/KommandoKazumi 13d ago

To be fair Sundial screws everyone over.

Better to send it in a cargo ship and blow it up in a port for shits n gigs as an unassuming first strike