Buried In Trump's Nuclear Report: A Russian Doomsday Weapon - NPR

JacksinPA · Feb 3, 2018

https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=582087310

Today the Trump administration released a report on America's nuclear weaponry. Most of the assessment was of the Pentagon's nukes and missiles, but buried in the plan was also mention of a mysterious Russian weapon called Status-6. NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports that Status-6 appears to be some kind of a doomsday device if it's real.

GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE: Status-6 made its first public appearance two years ago. Edward Geist is with the RAND Corporation.
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It may be that we are condemned to relive 'Dr. Strangelove - Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Bomb.' The Russians have a 'doomsday weapon' named Status-6?

cuban smokes · Feb 3, 2018

mankind (I'm sorry, man unkind) already has enuff **** to destroy the planet 1,000 times over

a NEW Russian 'thingy ma bob' isn't gonna do much more than is already deployed ........

Soopairik · Feb 3, 2018

Woohoo! Another big advancement to WWIII.

ashurbanipal · Feb 3, 2018

cuban smokes said:
mankind (I'm sorry, man unkind) already has enuff **** to destroy the planet 1,000 times over

a NEW Russian 'thingy ma bob' isn't gonna do much more than is already deployed ........

Well...the rumor on the Status-6 is that they're very large modified cobalt bombs that are deployed on Russian nuclear subs as torpedoes. While they do produce a very large explosion initially--roughly on the same scale as the Castle Bravo test--the real nasty part is their radioactive fallout. Cobalt bombs are designed to leave huge areas uninhabitable for decades (and by huge, I mean that one sizeable cobalt bomb would be enough to poison a land area roughly the size of Alaska). The idea, apparently, is that if the Russian high command is somehow taken out in a surgical strike, status-6 would activate, and hundreds of such torpedoes would be launched, killing all life in the oceans, and, probably within a decade, literally all life on earth. Maybe some bacteria huddled around ocean vents would survive, but nothing else would.

While an exchange of thermonuclear warheads would be super-bad, there would still be places that life would continue. New Zealand, Antarctica, the northern Canadian plains, Siberia, and then isolated pockets throughout the world. Status-6 (if the rumors are to be believed) is designed precisely to eliminate literally every living thing. It wouldn't knock us back to the stone age. The cockroaches wouldn't take over. etc.

Mircea · Feb 5, 2018

ashurbanipal said:
Well...the rumor on the Status-6 is that they're very large modified cobalt bombs that are deployed on Russian nuclear subs as torpedoes.

The source of that information is Popular Mechanics.

ashurbanipal said:
While an exchange of thermonuclear warheads would be super-bad, there would still be places that life would continue. New Zealand, Antarctica, the northern Canadian plains, Siberia, and then isolated pockets throughout the world.

Life would also continue in the US and the rest of the World.

JacksinPA said:
Today the Trump administration released a report on America's nuclear weaponry. Most of the assessment was of the Pentagon's nukes and missiles, but buried in the plan was also mention of a mysterious Russian weapon called Status-6. NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports that Status-6 appears to be some kind of a doomsday device if it's real.

It's not buried in the report, and it's not a "doomsday device."

ashurbanipal · Feb 5, 2018

Mircea said:
The source of that information is Popular Mechanics.

OK. So what?

Mircea said:
Life would also continue in the US and the rest of the World.

In isolated pockets...as I said.

ataraxia · Feb 5, 2018

JacksinPA said:
https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=582087310

Today the Trump administration released a report on America's nuclear weaponry. Most of the assessment was of the Pentagon's nukes and missiles, but buried in the plan was also mention of a mysterious Russian weapon called Status-6. NPR's Geoff Brumfiel reports that Status-6 appears to be some kind of a doomsday device if it's real.

GEOFF BRUMFIEL, BYLINE: Status-6 made its first public appearance two years ago. Edward Geist is with the RAND Corporation.
=======================================================================================================
It may be that we are condemned to relive 'Dr. Strangelove - Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying & Love the Bomb.' The Russians have a 'doomsday weapon' named Status-6?

Yes. It seems whereas a single nuclear ICBM in the past was designed to wipe out an entire city, this thing is designed so that a single missile can wipe out an entire region about the size of France.

Mircea · Feb 6, 2018

ashurbanipal said:
OK. So what?

Popular Mechanics is not a reputable source of information.

ashurbanipal said:
In isolated pockets...as I said.

Obviously, you fail to grasp the intricacies of fall-out prediction.

When you come to understand that 750 kt warhead produces the same fall-out as a 20 kt warhead, your knowledge will improve tremendously.

ataraxia · Feb 6, 2018

Mircea said:
Popular Mechanics

When you come to understand that 750 kt warhead produces the same fall-out as a 20 kt warhead, your knowledge will improve tremendously.

OK, it seems I was thinking about a different Russian weapon I had read about: the Satan 2. It apparently is capable of carrying multiple large nuclear warheads (or even more numerous smaller ones) which it can disperse over a large area. A single missile will be capable of sterilizing large portions of the planet about the size of Texas or France.

Russia unveils 'Satan 2' nuclear missile - CNN

Its large payload of about 10 tonnes would allow for up to 10 heavy warheads or 15 lighter ones or up to 24 hypersonic glide vehicles Yu-71/Yu-74,[5][6][7] or a combination of warheads and massive amounts of countermeasures designed to defeat anti-missile systems;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-28_Sarmat

ashurbanipal · Feb 6, 2018

Mircea said:
Popular Mechanics is not a reputable source of information.

Perhaps you should read my post again. Here, let me quote parts of it with emphasis on points you might have missed:

ashurbanipal said:
Well...the rumor on the Status-6...

Anyway, no, I didn't get this from reading Popular Mechanics.

Mircea said:
Obviously, you fail to grasp the intricacies of fall-out prediction.

When you come to understand that 750 kt warhead produces the same fall-out as a 20 kt warhead, your knowledge will improve tremendously.

You'll have to explain the relevance of that to what I wrote before I can comment.

Buzz62 · Feb 6, 2018

Hmmm...can you say overkill?

Mircea · Feb 7, 2018

ataraxia said:
OK, it seems I was thinking about a different Russian weapon I had read about: the Satan 2. It apparently is capable of carrying multiple large nuclear warheads (or even more numerous smaller ones) which it can disperse over a large area. A single missile will be capable of sterilizing large portions of the planet about the size of Texas or France.

Russia unveils 'Satan 2' nuclear missile - CNN

The original TASS story makes no mention of Texas or France. Apparently, that disinformation was added by Western Media.

It would take a total of forty-three (43) 40 mt warheads to destroy Texas.

Since the name of the game is to avoid anti-missile defenses, it's highly unlikely the missile would have a single 40 mt warhead. The platform is a MIRV bus carrying 10-16 warheads, plus decoys and electronic counter-measures for anti-missile defenses.

Mircea said:
When you come to understand that 750 kt warhead produces the same fall-out as a 20 kt warhead, your knowledge will improve tremendously.

ashurbanipal said:
You'll have to explain the relevance of that to what I wrote before I can comment.

So, basically, you're totally clueless about nuclear weapons and merely parrot misinformation and disinformation from Media.

Got it.

ashurbanipal · Feb 7, 2018

Mircea said:
So, basically, you're totally clueless about nuclear weapons and merely parrot misinformation and disinformation from Media.

Got it.

Well, that's a pretty rude response to a request for elaboration. So, since tact doesn't seem to work with you, let me be a little more blunt: I'm skeptical that anything you've written in response to my post means that anything in my post is false or incorrect. Which means that what you've written is basically irrelevant to any of my claims. If you think otherwise, you'll have to explain further. Until such time, this looks like an attempt to duck out of a debate.

Grand Mal · Feb 7, 2018

ashurbanipal said:
Well...the rumor on the Status-6 is that they're very large modified cobalt bombs that are deployed on Russian nuclear subs as torpedoes. While they do produce a very large explosion initially--roughly on the same scale as the Castle Bravo test--the real nasty part is their radioactive fallout. Cobalt bombs are designed to leave huge areas uninhabitable for decades (and by huge, I mean that one sizeable cobalt bomb would be enough to poison a land area roughly the size of Alaska). The idea, apparently, is that if the Russian high command is somehow taken out in a surgical strike, status-6 would activate, and hundreds of such torpedoes would be launched, killing all life in the oceans, and, probably within a decade, literally all life on earth. Maybe some bacteria huddled around ocean vents would survive, but nothing else would.

While an exchange of thermonuclear warheads would be super-bad, there would still be places that life would continue. New Zealand, Antarctica, the northern Canadian plains, Siberia, and then isolated pockets throughout the world. Status-6 (if the rumors are to be believed) is designed precisely to eliminate literally every living thing. It wouldn't knock us back to the stone age. The cockroaches wouldn't take over. etc.

The way you describe it, the weapon is useless if it's secret.

Unitedwestand13 · Feb 8, 2018

ashurbanipal said:
Well...the rumor on the Status-6 is that they're very large modified cobalt bombs that are deployed on Russian nuclear subs as torpedoes. While they do produce a very large explosion initially--roughly on the same scale as the Castle Bravo test--the real nasty part is their radioactive fallout. Cobalt bombs are designed to leave huge areas uninhabitable for decades (and by huge, I mean that one sizeable cobalt bomb would be enough to poison a land area roughly the size of Alaska). The idea, apparently, is that if the Russian high command is somehow taken out in a surgical strike, status-6 would activate, and hundreds of such torpedoes would be launched, killing all life in the oceans, and, probably within a decade, literally all life on earth. Maybe some bacteria huddled around ocean vents would survive, but nothing else would.

While an exchange of thermonuclear warheads would be super-bad, there would still be places that life would continue. New Zealand, Antarctica, the northern Canadian plains, Siberia, and then isolated pockets throughout the world. Status-6 (if the rumors are to be believed) is designed precisely to eliminate literally every living thing. It wouldn't knock us back to the stone age. The cockroaches wouldn't take over. etc.

Why. Would. Any. Living. Person. Come. Up. With. Such. A. Stupid. Nightmare. Of. A. Device?!
It’s insane.

ashurbanipal · Feb 8, 2018

Grand Mal said:
The way you describe it, the weapon is useless if it's secret.

I think the point is, it's not really secret.

ashurbanipal · Feb 8, 2018

Unitedwestand13 said:
Why. Would. Any. Living. Person. Come. Up. With. Such. A. Stupid. Nightmare. Of. A. Device?!
It’s insane.

It's the natural end of the logic of mutually assured destruction.

trblmkr · Feb 8, 2018

The US Submarine fleet had a nuclear torpedo in inventory for a while. They got rid of it as it was sort of suicide weapon. If you shot it at max range from the target, you still couldn't get far enough away before it detonated.

Praxas · Feb 8, 2018

ashurbanipal said:
You'll have to explain the relevance of that to what I wrote before I can comment.

The point basically is with the worlds nuclear arsenal and the thousands of missiles that would be falling in a nuclear war, a nuclear fallout is inevitable no matter what size the missile is. This doomsday weapon is no more dangerous than the thousands of missiles that would falling in a nuclear war.

And some countries such as Russia (and maybe even the US) have a scorched Earth policy that would launch at other countries seen as allies. This is why we shouldn't be playing around with threatening nuclear war on any country including NK.

ashurbanipal · Feb 8, 2018

Praxas said:
The point basically is with the worlds nuclear arsenal and the thousands of missiles that would be falling in a nuclear war, a nuclear fallout is inevitable no matter what size the missile is. This doomsday weapon is no more dangerous than the thousands of missiles that would falling in a nuclear war.

I don't think that can be his point. Look:

1. He claimed that life would "also continue in the US and the rest of the World" (post #5 in this thread).

2. He made the claim as an attempted refutation of my own claim that "life would continue [in] New Zealand, Antarctica, the northern Canadian plains, Siberia, and then isolated pockets throughout the world" (post #4 in this thread).

He therefore seems to be saying that life would continue in a more robust fashion than I had claimed even after an all-out exchange of nukes. Indeed, that seems to be the only thing to be inferred from these facts.

Praxas said:
And some countries such as Russia (and maybe even the US) have a scorched Earth policy that would launch at other countries seen as allies. This is why we shouldn't be playing around with threatening nuclear war on any country including NK.

You'll get no argument from me on that point.

Buried In Trump's Nuclear Report: A Russian Doomsday Weapon - NPR

Russian warship, go f*** yourself!