2.1 'Nuclear Triad. Delivery Vehicles and Launchers'

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Do curso por Saint Petersburg State University

Russia and Nuclear Arms Control

18 ratings

Saint Petersburg State University

Russia and Nuclear Arms Control

18 ratings

As a state with one of the largest arsenals of nuclear weapons Russia is a key participant of nuclear non-proliferation regime and defines nuclear arms control as a priority of its foreign policy. This course will discover the logic and the frames of Russian nuclear arms control policies. You will learn the historical background and the modern context of bilateral US-Russian relations in nuclear arms control and understand how these relations influence the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. You will get the basic tools for analyzing Russian defence and security policy in regards to nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament. Upon the completion this course the students will… ...be able to - analyze the actions of a state from the point of view of the present treaties on nuclear arms control; - come up with their own opinion on the problem commented by the arms control experts; - make arguments supporting their position in discussions of nuclear arms control. ...get to know - the technical, political and strategic aspects of agreements on nuclear arms control; - the content of arms control treaties in which Russia participates; - the trustworthy informational resources dedicated to the problem of nuclear arms control. ...be familiar with - the special terminology in the area of arms control; - the modern state and the perspectives of international policy regarding nuclear arms control; - the basics of Russia’s nuclear arms control policy.

Na lição

Introduction. Nuclear Weapon: What's in a Name?

2.1 'Nuclear Triad. Delivery Vehicles and Launchers'6:29

2.2 'Nuclear Triad: Air'4:15

2.3 'Nuclear Triad: Sea'4:46

2.4 'Nuclear Triad: Land'4:01

2.5 'The Problem of Classification'7:23

2.6 'Changing Attitude Towards Nuclear Weapons'7:19

2.7 'Requirements for Effective Deterrence'6:49

Conheça os instrutores

Anastasia A. Malygina
Assistant Professor
Department of Theory and History of International Relations
Andrey Y. Pavlov
Professor
Department of Theory and History of International Relations

Now you know what a nuclear physics package is and how it is designed.

But it is not enough to develop and

produce nuclear physics package to acquire nuclear weapon.

There is another key component of nuclear weapon.

A nuclear weapon have to produce certain effect in a certain time and place.

So, the country need to develop and produce

also delivery vehicles to deliver the weapons to the target.

They are called launchers or delivery vehicles.

As you remember, the first nuclear weapon ever used was a bomb.

The delivery vehicle for a bomb is an airplane.

A specific airplane called heavy bomber.

Since that time, many other means to deliver nuclear weapons were developed.

From artillery shells to long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles.

There are several types of delivery vehicles which have strategic significance.

What launching systems could be used to deliver a nuclear weapon to a target?

Supposed we have two opposing countries,

country A and B, divided by notion.

The first way to deliver a nuclear weapon

is to use long-range heavy strategic bomber.

These bomber will fly all the way to the target,

and then will drop the bomb to the target.

The other way is to use a ballistic missile.

The ballistic missile can be launched directly from the territory of the state A.

The ballistic missile will fly outside of the atmosphere,

and then launch one or

several nuclear warheads to the target.

Or, a ballistic missile can be launched from a submarine.

In this case, the ballistic missile will fly the same way

and launch one or several warheads to the target.

The first type of ballistic missile is called

intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBM.

The second type launched from submarine is

called submarine-launched ballistic missile.

We can divide all the launchers into categories, mobile and stationary.

In these pictures, you can see the only stationary launching system,

a silo-based ballistic missile.

The combination of various launching systems create a nuclear forces.

For the United States and Russia,

this is so-called nuclear triad.

The nuclear triad is a complex in which all elements complement each other.

I should highlight here that's not

all the states which possess nuclear weapons have nuclear triads.

The architecture of nuclear forces of each state is

an excessive question and we will not spend our time on this now.

In a nuclear triad,

all of the elements complement each other.

Any type of delivery vehicles has its strong and weak features.

In a nuclear triad, weakness of one element is compensated by the merits of another.

This is precisely why the United States

and Russia were committed to developing the triad.

From the early years of national nuclear weapons programs,

the Soviets and Americans were working to develop nuclear triads.

In future presentations this week,

we will explore features of each component of the triad and talk about air,

land, and sea components.

Now, let's have a look at the nuclear triad as a complex.

The nuclear triad is a system of interconnected elements.

An important thing to note,

is that the proportion are unique for each national nuclear force.

Let's have a look at the map.

Russia has a huge territory,

but fairly limited access to oceans.

Russia covers more than 17 billion square kilometers.

Although the coastline is very low,

Russian Navy has only two points of access to the world ocean.

You can see two red arrows on the map that shows these points of access.

The United States have smaller territory but very

long coastal lines with comfortable access to oceans.

So, this is why Russia always had

more land-based systems while the United States relied more on the naval component.

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