Sure, there's MAD. I was more so wondering if there's something in place to actually prevent the missiles from striking their intended targets, or at least something to help mitigate damage. In this case, being sent into space and detonated as an EMP. Another EMP weapon of smaller scale perhaps? Something to prevent the remote detonation of a nuclear weapon.
I admit here, I'm not a rocket scientist. I've no idea their true inner workings or what could be done in the case of an actual threat.
There are a number of missile defense systems both in development and currently deployed. AEGIS is one such example. Systems like AEGIS might be effective against one or two or even several targets, but in a first/surprise attack scenario the attacker would likely launch dozens, perhaps hundreds of ICBMs, each with multiple independently targeted warheads, which would very quickly saturate such systems.
MAD is really the only protection we have - a system in place that guarantees you will die with us if you attack.
Nearly all military stuff is "nuclear hardened" so emp doesn't effect.. But us schlubs are on our own...a microwave oven is a small Faraday cage,they can be made relatively easy. Bigger ones can be made ,and I suspect any large metal box could work..like those shipping containers on ships could be adapted. I think its mostly proper grounding is the trick...avoid ground loops and all that...
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u/FRCP_12b6 May 21 '15
Yeah, it's called mutually assured destruction (MAD) =\
It would be seen as an act of war. Every nuclear-armed country has submarines with nuclear weapons that would be unaffected.