North Korea News

[Smitty-48]

If Russia and China are going to be this huge problem if we counter strike post Redwing, how do they not become a huge damn problem if we decide to shoot first?

Well, if the CONUS is not crippled, the Russians and Chinese are in no position to take advantage of that, the Russians and Chinese would be a problem, as they are a problem now, but millions of Americans would not be dead and dying, the CONUS would not be devastated by radioactive fallout, and while the Russians and Chinese would certainly be upset about me executing a limited and focussed counterforce on North Korea, as it would be limited and focussed, it would not be hitting them, and so they would not be retaliating with nuclear weapons, if they wanted to have another Cold War over it? We're going there anyways, and so long as the CONUS doesn't get nuked, we'll win the Second Cold War too.

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

If Russia and China are going to be this huge problem if we counter strike post Redwing, how do they not become a huge damn problem if we decide to shoot first?

Well, if the CONUS is not crippled, the Russians and Chinese are in no position to take advantage of that, the Russians and Chinese would be a problem, as they are a problem now, but millions of Americans would not be dead and dying, the CONUS would not be devastated by radioactive fallout, and while the Russians and Chinese would certainly be upset about me executing a limited and focessued counterforce on North Korea, but as it would be limited and focussed, it would not be hitting them, and so they would not be retaliating with nuclear weapons, if they wanted to have another Cold War over it? We're going there anyways, and so long as the CONUS doesn't get nuked, we'll win the Second Cold War too.

Sounds like quite a gamble, but you know better what would trigger Russia and China going nuclear.

[Smitty-48]

Sounds like quite a gamble, but you know better what would trigger Russia and China going nuclear.

Rational calculation, the bigger gamble would be going into a peristent standoff with the North Koreans launch on warning hair trigger alert with Redwings against the CONUS, with no countervalue deterrent option, and so real deterrent at all.

The Russians and Chinese would not gamble on an all out nuclear war, unlesss I actually nuked them, directly, or peripherally, but since the B61 can be employed tactically and focussed, without wide area effects which would impact the Russian and Chinese strategic assets on their side of the line, they're not going to go to the matresses over that, throwing themselves in front Pyongyang, just to stop me from disarming them.

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

Why not use conventional weapons in that scenario? They can knock out opposition weapons, but without the baggage.

[Speaker to Animals]

Why not use conventional weapons in that scenario? They can knock out opposition weapons, but without the baggage.

Their shit is underground in hardened bunkers. It's not easy to break.

[Smitty-48]

Why not use conventional weapons in that scenario? They can knock out opposition weapons, but without the baggage.

The North Koreans have nuclear weapons, if you strike them, you have to strike in a way which ensures that their weapons and associated infrastructure is destroyed, right down to the wood, on the first pass, conventional bombs would take weeks to do it, the B61, at 50 million degrees, gets the job done, first day of war.

[Hanarchy Montanarchy]

Why not use conventional weapons in that scenario? They can knock out opposition weapons, but without the baggage.

The North Koreans have nuclear weapons, if you strike them, you have to strike in a way which ensures that their weapons and associated infrastructure is destroyed, right down to the wood, on the first pass, conventional bombs would take weeks to do it, the B61, at 50 million degrees, gets the job done, first day of war.

Whelp, that is a good enough answer for me.

Let loose the dogs of something, something!

[Smitty-48]

This would mostly be about bunkerbusting, the B61 would be put down the pipe into the bunker complexes, but it's all at right angles, so if you're going to get it all down there, first pass, you need some seriously hot thermobarics, B61; hotter than the Sun.

[Speaker to Animals]

I wonder if it's possible to lead with a bunker-buster that provides a decent hole, and the tactical nuke follows it down that hole to detonate well underground in an attempt to minimize fallout.

[Smitty-48]

Optimally, I'd prefer to employ the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP) with the 1.2 megaton B83 physics package, if going with the Capps doctrine, "wait and see", then I would direct DOD to start assembling them, with B61-11 for immediate action until the RNEP's were ready to go.

Then for the shallower softer targets, I'd use B61-11, and for the really deep and harderned targets, I would go with the B83 RNEP.

Thanks to the Cold War, the Pentagon has a nuke for every occasion, and what they don't have on alert, they can prep in relatively short order.