Stanislav Lunev

[Woolygimp]

Old news, but I was just reading this stuff for the first time. He's supposedly the highest ranking Russian officer to defect to the United States, with a background with the GRU and former Soviet intelligence.

His claims included that of his task to collect intelligence on military and political leaders in the United States for assassination by Spetsnaz hit squads, with hidden weapon caches, in case of war.
But the most interesting one was that the missing suitcase nukes as stated by General Lebed aren't missing so much as they aren't under the control of the Russian military, but instead are pre-positioned around NATO countries for an instant first strike capability.

All this stuff is pretty worrisome, especially hearing the two dozen occasions in which the world came to the brink of nuclear war.


Really this seems to be a case of standing on one leg. We've avoided a nuclear war this long and will probably be able to do so for the foreseeable future, but eventually we are going to lose our balance so to speak. It's inevitable, and there's no solution for nuclear disarmament... All it is going to take is one war, one event, somewhere, someplace...and god knows we've already dodged the bullet several times already.

...and no I'm not going to go build a bunker, and buy a stockpile of tinfoil for a hat. I think it's entirely reasonable that I can go my entire lifetime without seeing such an exchange take place although it's not a certainty, but I doubt my kids, or my kid's kids will have that luxury.

[MidGe]

Woolygimp,

You should try to read the old news about USA high level intelligence officers that defected to the then USSR.

Really worrying.

See back issues of Pravda

[iron81]

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But the most interesting one was that the missing suitcase nukes as stated by General Lebed aren't missing so much as they aren't under the control of the Russian military, but instead are pre-positioned around NATO countries for an instant first strike capability.

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I had always figured this was the best way to fight a nuclear war and the only realistic chance to win a nuclear war. I would be surprised if both sides hadn't done this to a certain extent.

[Jamougha]

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But the most interesting one was that the missing suitcase nukes as stated by General Lebed aren't missing so much as they aren't under the control of the Russian military, but instead are pre-positioned around NATO countries for an instant first strike capability.

[/ QUOTE ]
I had always figured this was the best way to fight a nuclear war and the only realistic chance to win a nuclear war. I would be surprised if both sides hadn't done this to a certain extent.

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The only way to win a nuclear war is to eliminate the enemy's capacity for a retaliatory strike. There's no way to do this with suitcase-nukes; they obviously can't attack nuclear-armed submarines and the missile silos on land are heavily armoured. A kilotonne level explosion off-base wouldn't impact them.

This sounds like either paranoid delusion or straight propaganda.

[Nonfiction]

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But the most interesting one was that the missing suitcase nukes as stated by General Lebed aren't missing so much as they aren't under the control of the Russian military, but instead are pre-positioned around NATO countries for an instant first strike capability.

[/ QUOTE ]
I had always figured this was the best way to fight a nuclear war and the only realistic chance to win a nuclear war. I would be surprised if both sides hadn't done this to a certain extent.

[/ QUOTE ]

The only way to win a nuclear war is to eliminate the enemy's capacity for a retaliatory strike. There's no way to do this with suitcase-nukes; they obviously can't attack nuclear-armed submarines and the missile silos on land are heavily armoured. A kilotonne level explosion off-base wouldn't impact them.

This sounds like either paranoid delusion or straight propaganda.

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You could cripple command and control with a first strike of suitcases nukes on no warning, decapitating leadership. It would be unknown for sometime who was responsible, first belief would likely even be terrorists. You could never "win" the war this way, but by destroying say, NY, DC, and LA, without warning with simultaneous suitcase nukes, you could effectively destroy the economy, administration, and decision makers of the US, making a war unnecessary.

[bobman0330]

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But the most interesting one was that the missing suitcase nukes as stated by General Lebed aren't missing so much as they aren't under the control of the Russian military, but instead are pre-positioned around NATO countries for an instant first strike capability.

[/ QUOTE ]
I had always figured this was the best way to fight a nuclear war and the only realistic chance to win a nuclear war. I would be surprised if both sides hadn't done this to a certain extent.

[/ QUOTE ]

The only way to win a nuclear war is to eliminate the enemy's capacity for a retaliatory strike. There's no way to do this with suitcase-nukes; they obviously can't attack nuclear-armed submarines and the missile silos on land are heavily armoured. A kilotonne level explosion off-base wouldn't impact them.

This sounds like either paranoid delusion or straight propaganda.

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It's conceivable that you could use suitcase weapons to kill (in the US) the President and as much of the Executive Branch and Congress as possible. Then you immediately launch a missile attack on silos and airbases (and, ideally, destroy as many missile subs as possible). Hopefully, the chain of command confusion will keep the US from retailiating until it's mostly too late. Then you demand a surrender or you'll begin attacking cities.

I don't know enough about nuclear rules of engagement to tell if this has a chance of working or not, but it's possible.

[Jamougha]

Up until 2006, the C&C centre for the US was Cheyenne Mountain. There's no way you could destroy it without a direct hit from a megatonne level nuke. So, for the era the Soviets were planning for, decapitation would have been pretty much impossible I think. In all probability, finding out that Washington had been nuked along with the President would not persuade the military to hold up on launching everything once their radar system detected incoming nukes.

It would be very hard to pass of multiple nuclear explosions as a terrorist act. In practical terms it would be abundantly clear who was behind it.

[2/325Falcon]

Suitcase nukes would be used against enemy troops in a conventional war. Training film. In the US the Soviets probably would have taken them to places like Ft. Bragg.