4.9 "Earthquake" Nuclear Bomb North Korea

[Alleycat72]

All they have to do is hit us with one. The American public with finish the job by promptly going out and burning every major city. 

[JPR1959]

If North Korea detonates a nuclear bomb on American soil, they will be glowing regardless of who is president. The device recently tested was a small atomic blast not in the megaton range at all.

[TGO David]

so is the US supposed to sit and wait until they actually successfuly launch a nuke our way?

 

That was the US plan during the entire Cold War.

[Guest ThePunisher]

That was the US plan during the entire Cold War.

Seems that plans change with different administrations, especially those that adhere to Marxist ideology.

[JayC]

A 'small device' - which is in the realm of what the Norks can build today - detonated in space would cover a fairly large area...  For example set off over Little Rock, AR it would have a high probability of knocking out the power half way between Nashville and Knoxville, covering all of LA, Houston and Dallas in Texas, St Louis, MO, and as far north as the Iowa border.  Virtually all of AL would be without power as well.

 

That is from a small device a little larger than the estimated 20 kt device they just tested.  It would result in a lot more than 1 million deaths, it would take months or a year to fully restore power and other critical services to the effected area...  So yes, 4 to 6 small devices properly denoted in orbit could cover the vast majority of the country.

 

Where as a 20kt device going off perfectly over 2nd Ave and Broadway in downtown Nashville would only have a 5psi blast way out 1.25 miles, maybe killing a 100,000 people.  Anybody at the Airport or outside the 440 loop would be perfectly safe from the blast, more would die due to fall out, but it would be a much smaller problem than the same weapon detonated in space.

 

And you're right you can cause 'EMP' type effects using more traditional technologies and explosives, but none have any real range.  I've yet to see a device using conventional technology able to fry circuits out past 100 yards, with the exception of for radar/radio jamming equipment the military has but it's damage it limited to radar/radio equipment not the power grid or computers.

 

I agree, any nuke from the Norks would result in war and chaos...  The chaos would be a lot worse if they denoted the nuke in space is my only point.

 

On the subject of anti-missile technology...  We do have it...  but it has 'issues' from a physics perspective...  First the best case is to hit the device in the 'boost' phase of flight...  before reaching top speed and orbit...  This would require that we have batteries in position that could hit the missile near the launch site.  While we do have PAC-2's and PAC-3's in South Korea they are limited in range to 160km, well short of the Nork launch sites.

 

The second best time to take out a missile would be once it re-enters the atmosphere to denote, this has it's own set of problems (like spreading the radioactive material all over your country), but we've developed PAC-3 systems which have a reported 20km range for this task, and some military cruisers also have this ability.  Unfortunately my understanding is that only a handful of military bases and DC have PAC-3's stationed and manned at this time.

 

Finally, the worse time to try and shoot down a missile is while it's at full speed in orbit, think of this like trying to hit your 9mm round with a 22lr round, it's possible but not easy.  We have a single base up and running in Alaska which has this ability today, their published hit rate is above 50%, but they're really only setup to handle 2 or 3 launches at the same time.  Launch 5 devices and chances are 2 or 3 will get through that system today.

 

Funding for an east coast site has been delayed by the Democrats and the President for the last 3 years.

 

And somebody is going to mention the navy's ability to shoot down that satellite a couple of years ago, it's different because they had a lot of orbital data from ground stations to more accurately predict an intercept point...  That is not possible with a sub-orbital missile (or the probability of hitting it is very very low).

 

Yes and no. 

Blowing away a city with the loss of life of say around 1 million would be a big, big, big deal.   The actual damage to the USA in the "grand scheme" would be minor, but the impact on society and the world and more would be beyond comprehension.  

 

EMP just does not carry that far, I think the bomb has to be over the target city +- some radius but one fatboy sized nuke over iowa or something isnt going to take out the lights in TN and NY and LA all at one go.   Also --- emp is not too hard to make without a nuke, though a city-sized blast takes a bomb the real danger is hitting a critical system with a small localized pulse.   And, there are defenses against emp for truly critical systems.

 

I think loss of life would have a greater impact at this time due to the psychology of the average US citizen.

 

I think NK could land a nuke somewhere in the USA (its a big target) without a lot more tech than they have.  I doubt they could hit DC or NY or anything on purpose, but it does not matter at this stage in the game.  If they can land one *anywhere*, even the middle of nowhere, the result would be .... war, chaos, and a whole lot of things happening across the world.

Edited February 14, 2013 by JayC

[Jonnin]

Did not realize it carried that far from a small blast, interesting to know.  

 

Lol knock out all the cell towers and you would see a lot of angry people for sure.

[gjohnsoniv]

"React" to what?  'We' didn't "react" to anything in Benghazi, why would we react to Kalifornia getting nuked?  0bama would just apologize to N. Korea.  Some may think I am being extremely sarcastic, but...we will see...

 

 

"React" to what?  'We' didn't "react" to anything in Benghazi, why would we react to Kalifornia getting nuked?  0bama would just apologize to N. Korea.  Some may think I am being extremely sarcastic, but...we will see...

Would losing California be that bad?

[Wingshooter]

Did not realize it carried that far from a small blast, interesting to know.

Lol knock out all the cell towers and you would see a lot of angry people for sure.

What? Just think, all those "free" Obama phones won't work anymore.... they're be law suits for sure, lol. Edited February 14, 2013 by Batman

[JayC]

Yeah, EMP is nasty stuff, it would not only knock out the power grid (by causing virtually all the major transformers to fry), but it would go onto impact just about any transistor based technology (anything with a computer chip in it).

 

They could also launch the same small device into a higher orbit, this would tend to only impact the power grid instead of the underlining technology (similar to a CME type disruption), but would cover a much larger area.  In this setup, a device denoted over TN, KY, MO border would knock out the power grid from Denver to New York City.

 

This would be harder for the Norks to pull off today since it would require a higher orbit and therefore better lifting technology than they appear to have, but they're working towards that technology.

 

Did not realize it carried that far from a small blast, interesting to know.  

 

Lol knock out all the cell towers and you would see a lot of angry people for sure.

 

[mcurrier]

An EMP would definitely separate the workers/producers from the slackers/takers really fast.  Hope we don't ever see one, but people like us are a LOT more prepared than Joe Obama-phone.

[strickj]

Would you have us declare war with "they have weapons" as our justification to the rest of the world?  If not, what action would you have us take?  We are unwilling to play to win, so it is not in our interest to get into any war at all.  And this would be a much bigger fight than against a third world military.   Worse, it would prove the leader for life "correct" in his assertation that  the USA is a threat and agressor, and all that goes with the bad press, if we attack first.

 

EMP IS scary.  I just feel that a hole where a city used to be would be a bigger deal to the average citizen and the UN etc.

 

We go after terrorists that don't threaten us that much. They do not have nukes, either.

What's the problem again?
 

[Guest 6.8 AR]

It may sound insane to utter this, but I don't think the North Koreans will do some EMP device, but will lob almost anything it

can to whoever it can. Japan is a more likely target for them since it's about as far as they can lob reliably. I think our EMP

threat is more close to home.

[JayC]

I think they're a lot closer to orbit...  Remember one of their favorite trading partners is Iran which has the technology to place small payloads into space.  Norks are maybe 5 to 7 years from having the ability to place nukes into space.

 

It may sound insane to utter this, but I don't think the North Koreans will do some EMP device, but will lob almost anything it

can to whoever it can. Japan is a more likely target for them since it's about as far as they can lob reliably. I think our EMP

threat is more close to home.