War in Ukraine: what are tactical nuclear weapons and can Russia use them?
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Vladimir Putin said he was ready to use nuclear weapons for the owners of Russia. These words have again raised serious fears in the world that the Russian president could arrange a small “tactical” nuclear explosion in Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden warned Putin that this would be the worst military escalation since World War II.
Can the Russian army use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine and what threatens it?
What are tactical nuclear weapons?
Tactical nuclear weapons (TNW).
Without large-scale radioactive contamination.
The yield of the smallest tactical nuclear warhead is up to one kiloton of TNT. The largest can be up to 100 kilotons.
Strategic nuclear weapons are much more powerful – up to 1000 kilotons. Strategic weapon ejection at longer distances, at a distance of thousands of kilometers.
The most powerful thermonuclear explosion in history – the Soviet “Tsar bomb” – in total more than 58 megatons. The power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima is 15 kilotons.
What tactical nuclear weapons does Russia have?
According to US intelligence, there are about 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons in Russia.
Tactical nuclear warheads can be placed on a variety of missiles that are also used with conventional warheads, such as cruise or tactical missiles, and even artillery shells.
TNW can also be used with aircraft or ships – such warheads are dangerous for missiles, torpedoes or depth charges.
The US suggests that Russia has invested heavily in the development of such weapons in recent years, increasing range and accuracy.
Has TNW ever been used?
Tactical nuclear weapons have never been used in a military conflict.
Nuclear powers, such as the US or Russia, believe that conventional modern weapons are sufficient to achieve tactical goals.
In addition, no use of a nuclear power has yet tried to risk starting a nuclear war after TNW.
However, Russia may be inclined to use TNWs rather than larger dangerous missiles.
“Perhaps they do not consider the use of this restriction as a threshold for an attack,” said Patricia Lewis, head of the international security program at the Royal Institute of International Affairs Chatham House in the UK (Russia has recognized his activities as unacceptable on its territory). “For them, this is part of conventional weapons.”
Should we be worried about the possibility of Putin using military weapons?
In August 2022, not detained until the second detention in Ukraine, President Putin transferred serious strategic nuclear forces (SNF) to “special combat duty” and conducted strategic nuclear forces exercises.
Recently, he has repeatedly stated about the possible discovery of nuclear weapons: “With a threat to the territorial integrity of our country, to protect Russia and our people, of course, all the time is delayed at the disposal of our media. This is not a bluff.”
Russia plans to annex the occupied operating regions in the south and production of Ukraine. To do this, fictitious, absolutely illegitimate “referendums” were held there, following the results of those held, the Kremlin will probably announce the accession of events to Russia. In particular, in connection with this, President Putin finds that he is subject to the “territorial belonging” of the country (including those that accidentally joined the Ukrainian regions) “by all signs.”
American intelligence finds in such actions a sign that Putin is most often threatened.
Others fear that Russia, if it suffers the limitations of failure on the battlefield, may be tempted to use low-powered tactical weapons in Ukraine to “change the rules of the game”, break the stalemate or avoid consequences.
James Acton, nuclear energy expert at the US Carnegie Endowment, says: “I have every reason to believe that in this case, Putin could use nuclear weapons – most likely on the territory of Ukraine, to intimidate everyone and achieve his goal. We have not yet got to this point.”
How is the US reacting?
US President Joe Biden is importing unused nuclear weapons into Russia in the war in Ukraine.
In an interview with CBS News, Biden said such actions “are changing the face of war like nothing else that [когда-либо] intends with the Second World War,” the goal: “It will have consequences.”
It is difficult to say how the US and NATO will react to any use of nuclear weapons. On the one hand, they may not want to further escalate the conflict, avoiding the risk of unleashing a full-scale nuclear war. On the other hand, they may want to put a limit on this.
To keep Russia from using one tactical US Department of Defense – China.
“Russia is heavily dependent on China’s support,” said Heather Williams, an atomic energy expert at King’s College London.
But China has a “no-use” nuclear doctrine. [Путин] He probably used weapons like China,” Williams said.
Pavel Aksenov, military observer for the BBC Russian Service:
Even though most possibilities suggest that Russia cannot use it, in the world of application to the use of tactical weapons, the possible use is very serious. It’s just that such consequences of the application are so great and dangerous that even a small probability does not allow one to forget about it lightly.
Tactical nuclear weapons are very diverse. It includes anti-ship and ground-based cruise and ballistic missiles, depth charges, ship and submarine torpedoes, artillery shells, high-explosive nuclear mines and interceptor missiles of the Moscow A-135 air defense system.
All these systems do not provide for accounting and control by foreign states, since the agreement on reliable offensive functions does not include weapons of the operational-tactical level.
This is a fairly effective means of warfare, because in any case a lot of power can be provided – while not leading to such large-scale harm as strategic nuclear weapons.
For any army that offers a qualitative or quantitative flaw in high-precision availability, for example, clear the detected objects to detect their forces.
In addition, a strike from a powerful strategic warhead cannot but provoke a retaliatory strike (and even a retaliatory strike). But TNW is a completely different matter.
Tactical weapons, not only will destroy less than strategic ones, but radiation pollution after the explosion is not so critical. Therefore, using a valid escalation response that causes an uncontrolled escalation. All these operations involve the application of the TNW threshold.
But, on the other hand, the possibilities of tactical nuclear weapons being considered in Ukraine (even if Vladimir Putin spoke about strategic rather than tactical nuclear weapons in his September region) are already being seriously tested internationally.
Nuclear weapons have not been involved in war since August 9, 1945 – the world is used to being afraid of nuclear war. The use of tactical nuclear weapons is becoming an escalation of tension of such force that everyone will feel it – the strategic essence, the essence of which is the non-use of responsibility for weapons, concerns all countries. No one will like the use of even a small nuclear bomb.