THE US MINI-NUKE WEAPON DOCTRINE 
WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT ?

Publish date: 17 January 2018
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POTUS Trump and the Pentagon are looking into continued development and deployment of "mini nukes".   Mini -nukes are low yield fission (the type used at Hiroshima) or fusion weapons (hydrogen and related bombs) compared to their "big brother" high-yield city-killing hydrogen fusion weapons.

Current news regarding the Pentagon's  mini-nuke program marks an important shift in US nuclear deterrent doctrine.  The UK's  Independent and other news agency alerts to the danger in their article on this development BUT they are looking at it from a purely pacifist-Liberal perspective only. 
The primary reasons for mini-nuke weapon deployment are as follows:
  • strategic, as opposed to tactical, importance of target
  • target's high likelihood of survival if subjected to conventional attack (i.e. the target is protected because of its high strategic, as opposed to tactical importance).
  • the target's high (as opposed to low) threat to friendlies.

Employment of mini-nukes into the  US' nuclear arsenal adds little deterrent value against Russia or China given these nation's massive, guarenteed ability to retaliate. Therefore, deployment doctrine that explains the use of mini-nukes must be basically as follows:
  • High-probability first or retaliatory-strike defeat of small nuclear arsenals. (There is no need to deploy mini-nukes against conventional forces concentrations given the USA's current ability to destroy these forces at will using conventional weapons.)
  • Minimized damage and radioactive fallout, confining it mostly to the immediate surrounding countryside of the target.

The relentless pursuit of the Iranian and North Korean nuclear weapon programs is recognised as a great danger to stability in the middle East and East Asia respectively. Pakistan is also an increasing  risk as political corruption and internal strife racks its population.  Luckily, these nation's nuclear capabilities today are quite limited.  It follows then, that the mini-nuke doctrine is being developed to eliminate rogue state nuclear weapon capability in the event:
  • political dialogue fails.
  • ​of a rogue state nuclear blackmail or launch attempt.

Let us know what you think.
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