Text 12108, 93 rader
Skriven 2007-02-12 08:07:38 av Michael Harper (15549.babylon5)
     Kommentar till en text av rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated
Ärende: Re: Military tactics in sci-fi?
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"Vorlonagent" <nojtspam@otfresno.com> wrote in message
news:U2Uzh.17616$ji1.10512@newssvr12.news.prodigy.net...
>
> "Michael Harper" <michaelharper05@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:u_KdnZBj5IXsbFLYnZ2dnUVZ_o6gnZ2d@comcast.com...
>
> > But you're right, Andy. If they call in a warning about a nuclear device
> > thirty minutes before detonation, and don't tell anyone the location,
and
> > the word gets out, it's mass panic. And for that, a Penske box on top of
a
> > parking garage would do. Hell, an ordinary Ford cargo van would do, and
> > those are as plentiful as dirt. And the bomb doesn't have to be huge. A
> > Russian SS-N-15 MIRV could do it. It's small enough that it'll fit in
the
> > back of a ratty Chevy van. And how common are they?
>
> Common, yes, but how easy to get ahold of?  Even then, the problem with
any
> nuke is that fissionables have to be taken out every 5 years or so and get
> re-enriched or they may fizzle.  The Russian Federation hasn't been able
to
> afford to do that for most of its warheads.  The easiest thing to get
ahold
> of is the most likely to be a dud.  But it'd still be a dirty bomb, which
> might be fun too.

It's a roll of the dice. Which is also part of the fun. Even if it's a dud,
a small bomb will wreck New York. Lots of rads. The whole city would have to
be evacuated.

> You would have to use a Russian nuke because the Pakistani nukes aren't
> anywhere near as compact and Chinese nukes are just now getting into that
> range.  No Iranian-built nuke will be easily portable for years to come.

I was thinking that Russian nukes are fairly plentiful, and some poor clown
in Uzbekistan might salvage one and sell it, not realizing what he had his
paws on.

> Also as important, would the Chevy van's suspension handle the weight?
Just
> because you can fit it in doesn't mean you can haul it.

I have an acquaintance who goes racing on weekends. When he bought his
Continental Ford racer, which isn't as big as a Champ Car but still weighs a
bit, he also got an old Chevy Beauville panel van with a severe case of road
rot, which he kept for reasons that defy description; the body was plastered
with stickers from racetracks that don't exist anymore, but it was also
rusted out all the way around the body, and it didn't have quite enough
power to pull the trailer and lug all the spare parts and tool he needed. I
think there was a 327 under the hood.

Anyway, Pete went out and bought a Ford van with the biggest, torqueiest 428
they make just for this one thing. He says he can pull his house off the
foundation, but I think he's exaggerating; Barbara sure as hell won't let
him test it.

So, to answer the question, yes, I think an SS-N-15 weighs quite a bit less
than a race car and vanload of tools.

> If you're willing to settle for a crater in New York instead of
> spectacularly wiping the city off the map (That's pretty much a given with
> just one nuke.  We're just haggling over the size of the crater anyway),
you
> might be able to use a soviet suitcase nuke.  With fancy stuff like
neutron
> reflectors and the like, you can get a sub-critical mass to go off.

My terrorists aren't too smart. They're like the guys who blew up San Diego;
they have just enough brains to get hold of the thing and blow it up, and
not enough to tweak it for maximum whoopass.

> IIRC, the suitcase nukes used uranium, which Iran is convienetly enough in
> the process or enriching.  Your terrorist could aquire an empty casing
from
> one source and stock it with fissionables courtesy of Iran.  The Iranians
> would have to put a huge effort into enriching uranium sufficiently for
use
> in a suitcase nuke, insuring there would only be one.

I was planning on just one for a start, nasty enough to get us into a real
war, not this idiocy we're in now. The way I'm looking at things now, I may
just go back and redo things so that it's present day, 9/11 is in the past,
but we still have a jihadist wacko who starts WW3. I have to do something to
blow shit up; the United Earth government and the launch of the UESS John
Chapman have to be born of some hellish tragedy that nearly wipes out
mankind. We're not gonna get our ducks in a row unless most of them get
blown away first.

Mike
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