Dallas DA says he will allow theft

[DBTrek]

If you are a nuclear terrorist and you are want to destroy America, you don't strike America.

You strike the Russians, inciting Dead Hand to launch the entire Soviet arsenal at the CONUS.

Sounds good.
Good luck triggering dead hand with one nuke and hundred of millions of living Russians available to override.

[Smitty-48]

If you are a nuclear terrorist and you are want to destroy America, you don't strike America.

You strike the Russians, inciting Dead Hand to launch the entire Soviet arsenal at the CONUS.

Sounds good.
Good luck triggering dead hand with one nuke and hundred of millions of living Russians available to override.

Dead Hand is a network of sensors. It activates as soon as it detects a nuclear explosion.

The senors and missiles they are protecting are right along the frontier in Central Asia.

Right in terrorist central.

One bomb would incite the Dead Hand to launch its Command Missiles.

Once those birds are up, even just one of them gets off the ground, it commands the rest to follow and nothing can override it.

[DBTrek]

Lots o’ speculation in that statement.
We don’t know if one nuke is sufficient to trigger perimeter/dead hand, we also don’t know whether it’s operational 24/7, but we do know that the command structure can override it.

You gonna take out the entire Russian command structure with one nuke?
Not even Tsar Bomba could do that.

[Smitty-48]

Lots o’ speculation in that statement.
We don’t know if one nuke is sufficient to trigger perimeter/dead hand, we also don’t know whether it’s operational 24/7, but we do know that the command structure can override it.

You gonna take out the entire Russian command structure with one nuke?
Not even Tsar Bomba could do that.

It's not on 24/7.

That's too scary even for Ivan.

But the concept of operations would be to strike in the midst of a period of tension.

Because they have no effective early warning.

So when things get tense, that's when they turn it on.

[Smitty-48]

In terms of one bomb, if that bomb is close to one of their missile fields, then that will incite the launch.

It would have to, otherwise it wouldn't be effective.

The whole point of it is that an American counterforce could be upon them in as little as ten minutes.

So if a nuke pops near their Birds, that will set it off methinks.

Because that would present like a counterforce strike in progress.

[DBTrek]

One of the designers also claimed that communications to high command were polled, and if successful, deadhand would shut down.
Meaning that a single nuke can’t trigger it unless all communication between responding silos and high command have also been severed.

So ... I see brilliant, not apocalyptic vortex in waiting.

[Smitty-48]

One of the designers also claimed that communications to high command were polled, and if successful, deadhand would shut down.
Meaning that a single nuke can’t trigger it unless all communication between responding silos and high command have also been severed.

So ... I see brilliant, not apocalyptic vortex in waiting.

That's all speculation as well.

I don't personally find Russian safety measures to be particularly reliable.

[DBTrek]

One of the designers also claimed that communications to high command were polled, and if successful, deadhand would shut down.
Meaning that a single nuke can’t trigger it unless all communication between responding silos and high command have also been severed.

So ... I see brilliant, not apocalyptic vortex in waiting.

That's all speculation as well.

I don't personally find Russian safety measures to be particularly reliable.

Speculation from one of the guys who designed the system:
https://www.wired.com/2009/09/mf-deadhand/

[GloryofGreece]

The most concerning part of what is happening is that, technically, jobs are booming. This really is all we are going to get. It doesn't get better than this. People are working, but they don't make enough to live decent lives. We have record unemployment and yet real incomes are still stagnant.

You can only spin the economic wheels like this for so long before something has to give.

Its about quality of life and unfortunately the best most can hope for is a cost of living wage "job" and very little time with their families or other kin. Chances are most delay having children too the point they have fertility issues (who knows all the other environmental/cultural factors are causing the huge decline) and then they get to pay outrageous hospital and "medical" costs and again hope they don't lose their job if/when their kid needs them to take off work and so on. Most likely you'll move 7 times in your adulthood again mostly for a job and again losing connections, community, and culture along the way.

[Smitty-48]

One of the designers also claimed that communications to high command were polled, and if successful, deadhand would shut down.
Meaning that a single nuke can’t trigger it unless all communication between responding silos and high command have also been severed.

So ... I see brilliant, not apocalyptic vortex in waiting.

That's all speculation as well.

I don't personally find Russian safety measures to be particularly reliable.

Speculation from one of the guys who designed the system:
https://www.wired.com/2009/09/mf-deadhand/

Again, I don't have much faith in the Soviet made Russian maintained sensors and associated comms network.

And it has to be hair trigger once it's switched on, due to the Trident II SLBM depressed trajectory profile.

For it to work, it has to work fast, so "not hair trigger" is only the case when it is switched off.

It most likely has two modes, semi autonomous and fully autonomous.

But that all hinges on 40 year old Soviet tech working exactly as it is supposed to.