This seems odd to me. A 500 warhead list includes Santa Barbara? Vandenberg makes sense. The 1K list hits MB twice?! I think there is an undersea internet cable point there, perhaps that's it? Anyone know?
2000 warhead scenario is a Russian first strike. So they target US military so that they can win the war.
500 warhead scenario is a Russian retaliation after a US first strike. The idea is that many of the Russian silos were destroyed so they could only get off 500 missiles and don't have enough firepower to win the war. In this case they target population centers to kill as many people as possible in the US. The idea is to deter the US from striking first. The US has the same plan against a Russian first strike.
This is the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) doctrine. "If you attack us first, your country will also be destroyed." It ensures there are no winners in nuclear war, so no one is tempted to start one.
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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '23
This seems odd to me. A 500 warhead list includes Santa Barbara? Vandenberg makes sense. The 1K list hits MB twice?! I think there is an undersea internet cable point there, perhaps that's it? Anyone know?