[lit-ideas] Bomb Design by Proxy
- From: Eric <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 04 Apr 2006 15:15:37 -0400
From the NTI Newswire. While Iran plays its war
games with Soviet-era technology, we are
calculating the ominous alternatives. Given Iran's
terrorist legions, its spying activities in
Jordan, its ability to hamper Gulf shipping,
attack the US, Israel, and Iraq--there's a real
potential for escalation to a regional conflict.
More interesting times ahead, I think.
U.S. Test to Model Low-Yield Nuclear Bomb Effects
By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — A massive detonation of conventional
explosives planned for the Nevada Test Site in
June will model a low-yield nuclear weapon strike
against a hardened tunnel, a Defense Department
official told Global Security Newswire yesterday
(see GSN, March 31).
The Energy Department test, dubbed “Divine
Strake,” involves detonating 700 tons of ammonium
nitrate fuel oil, the equivalent of 593 tons of
TNT, just below ground level and above a tunnel
dug into limestone.
Conducted on behalf of the Defense Threat
Reduction Agency for its “Tunnel Target Defeat
Advanced Concept and Technology Demonstration,”
the test is intended to provide data on how the
shock from a low-yield nuclear weapon would damage
hardened, underground facilities. Test results are
intended for supporting U.S. Strategic Command war
planning against underground facilities, according
to a fiscal 2007 DTRA budget document.
“<snip>
The Tunnel Target Defeat program is not intended
to produce a new nuclear weapon, but rather to
determine what yield might be ideal for destroying
hardened facilities while minimizing casualties,
according to the budget document.
The test is intended to “improve the warfighter’s
confidence in selecting the smallest proper
nuclear yield necessary to destroy underground
facilities while minimizing collateral damage,” it
said.
“Better predictive tools will reduce the
uncertainties involved in defeating very hard
targets and therefore reduce the need for
higher-yield weapons to overcome those
uncertainties,” spokeswoman Smith said.
The test is intended to help military planners
“fine-tune the capabilities we already have,”
Kristensen said.
“The explosive power of Divine Strake will be
approximately 593 tons of TNT equivalent, or
roughly 0.6 [kilotons]. This is about half as
powerful as the lowest yield option on the
nonstrategic B61 nuclear gravity bomb, and
suggests that Divine Strake may be intended to
fine-tune use of the B61 bomb,” he wrote on his
Web site.
“These are tactical nuclear weapons that have that
low yield,” he said.
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