Ask An Expert- LAND Forces.

[Officer of Engineers]

My Question :
How difficult is it to target countervalue targets i.e a city with MIRVs Of the Same missile , or will this undoubtly cause a Fratricide?

You don't target a city unless your missiles are so inaccurate that you're aiming for a counter-population strike. You aim for city hall or the water sewage plant, police stations, a bridge, etc

[Albany Rifles]

You don't target a city unless your missiles are so inaccurate that you're aiming for a counter-population strike. You aim for city hall or the water sewage plant, police stations, a bridge, etc

Or silos....

[Doktor]

Col, AR,

I think his question was how accurate can those hits be. Is it one bus per target or one bus per city and then the missiles hit several targets like the hall, sewege... silos?

[Officer of Engineers]

Not sure what he's asking then. We're talking nukes, not a sniper shot.

[Gun Grape]

Or silos....

Or the hot dog stand

(Lets see how many people know that reference from the cold war.)

[Doktor]

Or the hot dog stand

(Lets see how many people know that reference from the cold war.)

Asty would know.

[Shek]

Or the hot dog stand

(Lets see how many people know that reference from the cold war.)

It's now an actual hard stand restaurant called Ground Zero Cafe.

[zraver]

I missed your return, welcome back.

[Alpha1]

Col, AR,

I think his question was how accurate can those hits be. Is it one bus per target or one bus per city and then the missiles hit several targets like the hall, sewege... silos?

yes, one bus per city, my question was are there any physical limitations which prevent MIRVS of the SAME missile being used to target several targets in one city



@Officer of Engineers

[Officer of Engineers]

It's always 3 missiles to a set of targets. Rockets and nukes are notorious at failing at the worst possible time, so you use 3 to ensure a hit. You don't use the same set of RVs to hit one specific targets, ie a city hall. One missile will have each of its RVs target a specific location and two other missiles will repeat those targeting procedures.

[Albany Rifles]

It's now an actual hard stand restaurant called Ground Zero Cafe.

DAMN good burgers!

[Doktor]

DAMN good burgers!

Knowing that several nukes are aimed at you and that it might be your last burger makes you think that

[Albany Rifles]

Dok,

That is why I only visit...never get stationed there!

[SteveDaPirate]

Alpha, the RVs from a single missile would certainly be staggered to avoid fratricide either by spacing them far enough apart to avoid it, or by using drogue chutes on some of them to delay their impacts if they are engaging closely spaced targets.

It is also important to keep in mind that the effect you are trying to achieve and the type of target can cause considerable variation in the targeting orders of nukes. For example, should you go for a ground burst or an air burst?

An air burst makes maximum use of the energy a nuke can deliver as the entire bottom hemisphere of the explosion is radiating energy towards the target area, and only the top half of the explosion is wasted as the energy radiates into space. Air bursts are great at flattening large areas with a flash of heat and massive overpressure and are also notable for creating relatively little in the way of fallout.

Yet air bursts are not effective against all types of targets. If you are trying to destroy missile silos, or rail yards that are relatively unaffected by overpressure, you will require a ground burst that will physically scour these targets from the earth. Ground bursts are often less desirable than air bursts, as they are far less efficient with their energy. A ground burst will only radiate energy along a thin band of the fireball and this energy is easily disrupted or dispersed by terrain. The vast majority of energy from a ground burst is either radiated into space or directly into the earth. Another potential consequence of a ground burst is that vast amounts of material will be sucked into the fireball and irradiated, creating lots of fallout.

Accordingly, nukes that are targeted as ground bursts can be fairly closely spaced before fratricide becomes a problem, while air bursts would likely need to be staggered either via separate missiles, or by using drogue chutes deployed a different altitudes to stagger the explosions in time if they cannot be physically dispersed.

[Shek]

I missed your return, welcome back.

I airdrop in from time to time. Work and family keep me very busy these days.