British nukes were only protected by bike locks

Post by cstross » Sat, Jan 30, 2010, 5:42 PM UTC

motters wrote: post #28

cstross wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yawn. The W177's were secured with bike locks ... inside a reinforced concrete bunker surrounded by razor wire and patrolled by armed guards with orders to use lethal force to stop anyone trying to gain access to them without proper authorization. Just like the USSR's land-based ICBMs didn't have PAL codes -- instead they were guarded by a platoon of KGB troops who didn't know how to launch the missile, but sure knew…

Well, not necessarily. A rogue commander could probably persuade his subordinates that he was authorized to use the bicycle key. If someone in a position of apparent authority claims that they will accept responsibility, subordinates will usually go along with that.

The WE.177 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WE.177 -- note corrected designation) was a free-fall H-bomb, carried on Vulcan and then Tornado bombers, and retired by 1998; you can see details of the 'bike lock' security on that wikipedia page. As such, it was stored on RAF bases and there are extensive procedures in place to ensure that a rogue officer can't order a deployment without it coming down the chain of command. (See also "Dr Strangelove".)

The WE.177 was not a sub-launched missile. The Royal Navy's Trident D5s (which come from the same maintenance pool as the US Navy's missiles) are; they do not, as far as I know, use bike locks: if they do, so do the USN's D5s.

Post by jackfoxy » Sun, Jan 31, 2010, 12:39 AM UTC

dfox wrote: post #30

jackfoxy wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And on this blog is the thoughtful reply "It shouldn't be hard to arm a nuke. It should be hard to get access to it. If you stole one any competant EE could rewire the whole thing to do what he needs anyway. Those inclined to steal a nuke would have this know-how; they wouldn't be your average bank robber or shoe-bomber terrorist. Posted by: Savik at November 21, 2007 2:34 PM" Maybe back in the day a competent EE cou…

ultr-sophisticated, but still any locking mechanism on nuke can be overcomed by sufficiently motivated adversary. And anyone who can steal the nuke is sufficiently motivated, no matter how ultra-sophisticated your lock is. Edit: and overcoming any kind of locking mechanism on nuke is certainly cheaper than building one yourself. What most people seem to forget is that problem with building nuclear weapons lies with l…

Agreed. All the locking mechanisms and codes are to prevent accidental and non-authorized triggering. After that you have to depend on guys with guns for security.

Re: British nukes were only protected by bike locks

Re: British nukes were only protected by bike locks