Abstract
We now turn to the crucial issues of escalation from conventional to nuclear force levels and from one nuclear force level to another.
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Notes and References
Compare the argument in chapter 7 about first’ use of strategic nuclear weapons.
I am indebted to Michael Quinlan for the analysis in this and the next sections. For a fuller discussion see chapter 12.
Devised by American scientists in the 1970s, the ‘neutron bomb’ or ‘enhanced radiation weapon’ is a small, clean fusion weapon (see figure 3.4) designed for use against concentrated enemy armour such as tank formations, while causing a minimum of collateral damage. The weapon’s blast and radiation effects (other than neutron radiation) have been reduced to a minimum by use of a very small fission ball or ‘primary’ and non-radioactive tampers; but the neutron radiation emitted during the first second of the fusion reaction would be capable of penetrating tank armour and concrete buildings and killing the people inside at greater distances than the blast effects.
Plutarch, Life of Caesar, translated by Dryden and revised by A.H. Clough, (New York: Modern Library, Random House) p.874.
See figure 7.2.
First deployed in 1977, the SS-20 is a land-based, mobile ballistic missile with a reported range of 2750 miles and CEP of 1300 feet and carrying either a single warhead of one and a half megatons or three MIRVed warheads of 150 kilotons each. About 120 had been deployed at the time of NATO’s ‘twin-track’ decision of December 1979, 360 by the autumn of 1983, and 414 by the spring of 1985.
See note 6.
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© 1986 A.J.C. Edwards
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Edwards, A.J.C. (1986). Extended Deterrence and First Nuclear Use. In: Nuclear Weapons, the Balance of Terror, the Quest for Peace. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08131-8_11
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