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Nukemap

nukemap.org

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Re: Nukemap

#81

Post by dang »

This counts as a dupe because there was a major thread in the last year or so (two, in fact). This is in the FAQ: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html.

For the curious, some related threads:

Nukemap Is Down - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30516807 - March 2022 (4 comments)

10 Years of Nukemap - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30282649 - Feb 2022 (56 comments)

Nukemap - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29193948 - Nov 2021 (83 comments)

Nukemap - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23365823 - May 2020 (74 comments)

Why Nukemap Isn't on Google Maps Anymore - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21782101 - Dec 2019 (289 comments)

Missilemap - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15113962 - Aug 2017 (50 comments)

Nuke Map: Interactive Nuclear Bomb Map - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14975863 - Aug 2017 (87 comments)

Nuclear detonation visualizer - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14243187 - May 2017 (2 comments)

Mapping the US nuclear war plan for 1956 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11704241 - May 2016 (45 comments)

Nuclear Effects Calculator - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3624714 - Feb 2012 (34 comments)

Re: Nukemap

#82

Post by yellowapple »

whammywon wrote: post #55
awb wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Would each city be targeted with one warhead, or blanketed with several over a large area? It depends on your objective if you want to incinerate a target, maximize damage or produce maximum fallout. Basically if you want to incinerate a small, hardened underground target you need to send a few nukes to have a high confidence level of success. If you want to damage a city and are OK with detonating in any part of t…

> If you want fallout then you want an air burst to the West and let the Easterly winds spread the fallout. This might be true, but I've heard speculation that a surface burst would produce more fallout. Their reasoning is that fallout from an air burst would have considerably less dirt or debris so it would (supposedly) remain airborne for a longer period of time. On the other hand, a surface burst would darn near v…

Nukemap seems to agree that a surface detonation would irradiate a much wider area than an airburst.

Re: Nukemap

#83

Post by reese_john »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #53
k__ wrote: post #32

I don't know how much of what I saw online was Ukraine propaganda. But the Russian military seems to be in bad shape. Almost nothing of the new stuff they paraded all these years is used in Ukraine. Some people argued that it's a smart ploy, others say they simply don't have the technology in amounts that are enough for a war. It makes me think, how many nukes does Russia actually have? How many are usable? How many…

I’m pretty convinced that they’re sandbagging to see what happens and how little they can try to get what they want. They’re definitely playing mental games with the rest of the world. What’s much less clear to me is what the actual goal is and what the state of their country will be once it’s settled. Gain Ukraine, lose connection to the rest of the world and most foreign trade, plus put your citizens through hell…i…

They've already had thousands of casualities, including two generals and other high-ranking officials[0]. I wouldn't say they are playing mental games with the rest of the world. It doesn't even look like China, supposedly their number one ally, is on board with all of this[1]

Clearly, Russia's army is having a lot of problems, and Putin is not that mastermind that some media segments claim him to be.

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/08/vitaly-gerasim...

[1] https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russia-sa...

Re: Nukemap

#84

Post by joes_hk »

nostrademons wrote: post #54
tablespoon wrote: post #3

I was looking at this the other day, and was wondering how nuclear weapons would actually be targeted against the US. Would they be aimed at city centers or nearby infrastructure? Would each city be targeted with one warhead, or blanketed with several over a large area? Because if there's a full-scale nuclear war, if the Russians only target the center of my city, I probably have a chance of surviving. However if the…

The vast majority of nukes are "counterforce" - they're targeted against military targets, primarily the enemy's own nuclear arsenal. Strategic reasoning for this is pretty simple: only by destroying the enemy's weapons can you prevent the destruction of your own citizens, and destroying the enemy's citizens is pretty cold comfort if all of yours are dead. I've heard that each Minuteman 3 silo in the U.S. has multipl…

Is there a reason why Russia should target America before targeting Europe? Wouldn't it have strategical advantages for them to target NATO bases in Poland or Turkey and/or Germany?

Re: Nukemap

#85

Post by aerostable_slug »

Spooky23 wrote: post #33
tablespoon wrote: post #3

I was looking at this the other day, and was wondering how nuclear weapons would actually be targeted against the US. Would they be aimed at city centers or nearby infrastructure? Would each city be targeted with one warhead, or blanketed with several over a large area? Because if there's a full-scale nuclear war, if the Russians only target the center of my city, I probably have a chance of surviving. However if the…

I was into this topic awhile back, basically while nobody talks about the details, there are reports re the reactions of people when they learn of the details. And they are basically horrified, borderline traumatized, but cannot come up with another plan. The number of missiles and warheads available are very high, and planners identify all sorts of targets and assign priority, etc. I would imagine that factored into…

This is correct. Based on public statements, the record appears to be the Russian Don-2N battle management radar facility: in the 1998 revision of the SIOP, it had 69 consecutive warheads dedicated to its destruction [0].

[0] https://web.archive.org/web/20201111203417/https://journals....

Re: Nukemap

#86

Post by geenew »

ben_w wrote: post #61
BiteCode_dev wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, the RS-28 is the Russian state of the art now, and is probably as deadly as the Tsar, but very practical. However, it is yet to see if it will work as advertised.

I’m not a weapons expert so I DuckDucked RS-28, and apparently it’s a missile not a warhead? Wikipedia says it can have a payload of: > 10–15 MIRVs[3] Unspecified number of Avangard HGVs I don’t know how to make use of this information.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_independently_targeta...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_independently_targeta...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avangard_(hypersonic_glide_veh...

Re: Nukemap

#87

Post by pthread_t »

tablespoon wrote: post #3

I was looking at this the other day, and was wondering how nuclear weapons would actually be targeted against the US. Would they be aimed at city centers or nearby infrastructure? Would each city be targeted with one warhead, or blanketed with several over a large area? Because if there's a full-scale nuclear war, if the Russians only target the center of my city, I probably have a chance of surviving. However if the…

There's a well known paradox in nuclear strategy where counter-force targeting is actually more "humane", but it requires the nation to keep more nukes in service.

On the other hand, a small stockpile will deter your enemy only if you are willing to use your stockpile on your enemy's population centers.

Re: Nukemap

#88

Post by coldcode »

Spooky23 wrote: post #33
tablespoon wrote: post #3

I was looking at this the other day, and was wondering how nuclear weapons would actually be targeted against the US. Would they be aimed at city centers or nearby infrastructure? Would each city be targeted with one warhead, or blanketed with several over a large area? Because if there's a full-scale nuclear war, if the Russians only target the center of my city, I probably have a chance of surviving. However if the…

I was into this topic awhile back, basically while nobody talks about the details, there are reports re the reactions of people when they learn of the details. And they are basically horrified, borderline traumatized, but cannot come up with another plan. The number of missiles and warheads available are very high, and planners identify all sorts of targets and assign priority, etc. I would imagine that factored into…

Unless you are far far away (like NZ or Aus) you are better off dying instantly. Even far away, and even if there is no nuclear winter sort of result, the radiation and effects are likely get you as well. Volcanic dust can be pretty widespread (Krakatoa is likely bigger than all the nukes we have) but it's far more localized unlike a general nuclear exchange, plus the dust is likely to be both radioactive and contain all sorts of nasty volatilized chemicals.

Re: Nukemap

#89

Post by baybal2 »

joes_hk wrote: post #84
nostrademons wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vast majority of nukes are "counterforce" - they're targeted against military targets, primarily the enemy's own nuclear arsenal. Strategic reasoning for this is pretty simple: only by destroying the enemy's weapons can you prevent the destruction of your own citizens, and destroying the enemy's citizens is pretty cold comfort if all of yours are dead. I've heard that each Minuteman 3 silo in the U.S. has multipl…

Is there a reason why Russia should target America before targeting Europe? Wouldn't it have strategical advantages for them to target NATO bases in Poland or Turkey and/or Germany?

No post body was provided.

Re: Nukemap

#90

Post by geenew »

dang wrote: post #81

This counts as a dupe because there was a major thread in the last year or so (two, in fact). This is in the FAQ: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html . For the curious, some related threads: Nukemap Is Down - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30516807 - March 2022 (4 comments) 10 Years of Nukemap - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30282649 - Feb 2022 (56 comments) Nukemap - https://news.ycombinator.com/i…

In this case, it's more of a proxy for discussion of fears of nuclear war given the rise in tensions since the invasion of Ukraine, I think.
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