军迷科普：美国核武器实力介绍

In 1950, in response to the detonation of the USSR's first fission weapon in 1949 ("Joe 1"), Truman ordered a crash research program towards developing thermonuclear weapons. At that point the weapons were still purely theoretical, with no method known for successfully igniting a nuclear fusion reaction. After a theoretical breakthrough by the mathematician Stanislaw Ulam and physicist Edward Teller, however, workable method was developed and tested in the "Ivy Mike" shot in November 1952, with a yield of 10 megatons. A deployable version of the Teller–Ulam design was tested in the "Castle Bravo" shot of February 1954, with a yield of 15 megatons, over twice the projected expectations. Because of this error in calculation and unfortunate changes in weather conditions, the "Bravo" shot resulted in the depositing of large amounts of nuclear fallout onto the Marshall Islands at the test site in the Pacific. An evacuation ensued, but many of the natives exposed suffered from cancers and a high incidence of birth defects. A Japanese fishing boat was additionally exposed and resulted in one death from radiation sickness, which gained considerable international attention.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s the United States continued on its path, developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), with which to hold a credible deterrence against the USSR. In this period the U.S. stockpile of weapons increased exponentially to its maximum point of over 32,000 warheads in 1966.[1] The generally agreed upon point at which the U.S. came closest to nuclear war with the USSR occurred during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

In the 1970s and 1980s, warhead production slowed somewhat though innovation in warhead design allowed for new generations of delivery systems such as multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) to be produced. Since this advance in the miniaturization of thermonuclear weapons in the mid-1970s, most experts and weapons scientists have said that most nuclear weapons design was focused on small improvements and modifications rather than any radical changes.

In the 1980s, under President Ronald Reagan, a reinvigoration of the arms race took place, and also introduced the extensive advocacy of the use of nuclear and non-nuclear approaches to missile defense through the Strategic Defense Initiative. For technical and political reasons, however, funding was eventually cut back heavily on this program.

Shot "Frigate Bird" of Operation Dominic on May 6, 1962, was the first and only U.S. test of an operational ballistic missile with a live nuclear warhead (yield of 600 kilotons), at Christmas Island. In general, missile systems were tested without live warheads and warheads were tested separated, for safety concerns. In the early 1960s, however, there mounted technical questions about how the systems would behave under combat conditions (when they were "mated", in military parlance), and this test was meant to dispel these concerns. However, the warhead had to be somewhat modified before its use, and the missile was only a SLBM (and not an ICBM), so by itself it did not satisfy all concerns. (Mackenzie 1990)
Shot "Sedan" of Operation Storax on July 6, 1962 (yield of 104 kilotons), was an attempt at showing the feasibility of using nuclear weapons for "civilian" and "peaceful" purposes as part of Operation Plowshares. In this instance, a 1280 ft diameter, 320 ft deep crater was created at the Nevada Test Site.

The current delivery systems of the U.S. makes virtually any part of the globe within the reach of its nuclear arsenal. Though its land-based missile systems have a maximum range of 10,000 km (less than worldwide), its submarine-based forces extend its reach from a coastline 12,000 km inland. Additionally, the ability to refuel long-range bombers in flight and the use of aircraft carriers extends the possible range virtually indefinitely.

During the 1960s, following the rise of political activism in the Civil Rights Movement, the controversy over the Vietnam War, and the beginnings of the environmentalism movement, public anxiety related to nuclear weapons began to rise to the point of direct protest. While there is little evidence that these sentiments were felt or expressed by any more than a minority of the U.S. population, their expression became increasingly amplified, especially in relation to the health hazards of nuclear testing. After the cessation of American atmospheric nuclear testing, however, the sentiment against nuclear weapons in general lost much of its momentum. During the period of Détente in the 1970s, marked by weapons reduction and restriction treaties between the U.S. and the USSR, much of the anxiety over nuclear weapons in the populace and activists was transferred towards protesting civilian nuclear power plants, according to Weart's analysis (Weart 1988).

During the presidency of Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, public anti-nuclear weapons sentiment reached its highest point, spurred by the administration's strong anti-Soviet rhetoric, Strategic Defense Initiative, and apparent reinvigoration of the arms race. Again, however, the majority of the American populace generally felt the weapons were required for U.S. national security, even though they increasingly became the flashpoints of political controversies and concern. Anti-nuclear activists shifted to a strategy of describing in detail the results of a potential nuclear attack on the United States, and a number of prominent anti-nuclear films were developed during this period, typified by the controversial The Day After in 1983.

With the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s and the cessation of the arms race, U.S. public attitudes towards nuclear weapons became less polarized on the whole. Following the September 11 attacks of 2001, however, concerns over whether the U.S. should develop new weapons have reinvigorated some of the older debates over their practicality, morality, and danger. The debate over the ethical implications of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, begun in private amongst scientists and statesmen during the war, has continued to this day, in the general public as well as amongst historians, military experts, and other scholars.

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ERDA was short-lived, however, and in 1977 the U.S. nuclear weapons activities were reorganized under the Department of Energy [10], which currently maintains such responsibilities through the semi-autonamous National Nuclear Security Administration today.[11] Some functions have also been taken over or shared by the Department of Homeland Security in 2002. The already-built weapons themselves are in the control of the United States Strategic Command, which is part of the Department of Defense.

In general, these agencies served to coordinate research and build sites. They generally operated their sites through contractors, however, both private and public (for example, Union Carbide, a private company, ran Oak Ridge National Laboratory for many decades; the University of California, a public educational institution, has run the Los Alamos and Livermore laboratories since their inception, and will joint-manage Los Alamos with the private company Bechtel as of its next contract). Funding was received both through these agencies directly, but also from additional outside agencies, such as the Department of Defense. Each branch of the military also maintained its own nuclear-related research agencies (generally related to delivery systems).

The United States is one of the five "nuclear weapons states" permitted to maintain a nuclear arsenal under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which it was an original signatory on July 1, 1968 (ratified March 5, 1970).

The Cooperative Threat Reduction program of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency was established after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 to aid former Soviet bloc countries in the inventory and destruction of their sites for developing nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, and their methods of delivering them (ICBM silos, long range bombers, etc.). Over $4.4 billion has been spent on this endeavor to prevent purposeful or accidental proliferation of weapons from the former Soviet arsenal.[12]

After India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons in 1998, President Bill Clinton imposed economic sanctions on the countries. In 1999, however, the sanctions against India were lifted; those against Pakistan were kept in place as a result of the military government which had taken over. Shortly after the September 11 attacks in 2001, President George W. Bush lifted the sanctions against Pakistan as well.

The U.S. government has officially taken a silent policy towards the nuclear weapons ambitions of the state of Israel, while being exceedingly vocal against proliferation of such weapons in the countries of Iran and North Korea, something which has been called hypocritical by many critics. The same critics point out the fact that not only is the United States sitting on the largest nuclear weapons stockpile in the world, but it is also violating its own non-proliferation treaties in the pursuit of so-called "nuclear bunker busters". The 2003 invasion of Iraq by the U.S. was done, in part, on accusations of weapons development, and the Bush administration has said that its policies on proliferation were responsible for the Libyan government's agreement to abandon its nuclear ambitions.[13]

A 2001 Nuclear posture review published by the Bush administration called for a reduction in the amount of time needed to test a nuclear weapon, and for discussion on possible development in new nuclear weapons of a low-yield, "bunker-busting" design (the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator). Work on such a design had been banned by Congress in 1994, but the banning law was repealed in 2003 at the request of the Department of Defense. The US Air Force Research Laboratory researched the concept, but the United States Congress canceled funding for the project in October 2005 at the National Nuclear Security Administration's request. According to Jane's Information Group, the program may still continue under a new name.

In 2005 US revised its nuclear strategy, the Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations, to use nuclear weapons preemptively against adversary WMDs or overwhelming conventional forces.

In May 2007, The Center for American Progress released a report "Get Smart on Ballistic Missiles" which argued that the ballistic missile threat is actually on the decline. It stated that:

"There are far fewer missiles in the world today than there were 20 years ago, fewer states with missile programs, and fewer hostile missiles aimed at the United States. There is no imminent, new ballistic missile threat. The threat from a North Korean or Iranian long-range missile is still largely hypothetical. Countries developing ballistic missile technology today are fewer in number, poorer, and less technologically advanced than the nations that were developing ballistic missile technology 20 years ago. Neither the United States nor Europe currently faces a looming threat from ballistic missiles." [5]

纯英文帖仅留作学习参考。:lol

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美国国家导弹防御系统
http://bbs.cjdby.net/viewthread. ... e%3D1&frombbs=1

留着学学英语蛮好的

翻译，强烈要求翻译。
想问一问，美国的弹道导弹是归哪个部门管的，空军还是陆军。

原帖由 molar 于 2008-5-21 16:51 发表
翻译，强烈要求翻译。
想问一问，美国的弹道导弹是归哪个部门管的，空军还是陆军。

陆基弹道导弹是归空军管的
空军有一个空军航天司令部统管洲际导弹力量以及战略防御系统
美国空军下属的作战联队里有一种叫做洲际弹道导弹联队，和其他如战略轰炸机联队等并列， 每个联队1000～2000人，2～4个中队，约50枚弹道导弹。

很庆幸自己英语学得还不错:D

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怪当年没好好学习，看来头大啊