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I read a few books about that question, short answer no, long answer no. When the enemy attacks, you have minutes to contact the president (in the us case) and he has only minutes to decide, which way it goes. You have to get your planes flying and launch your icbms before they get destroyed from the incoming missiles. There is no time to wait and see, one of the first things that will happen is, that the enemy is detonating a nuke in the upper atmosphere near your land or near the horizon of your radars. The electromagnetic radiation blinds your radar and from now on you are blind. No radar how many missiles where launched after the initial firing. Your have to counter strike with full force, now! Now or never, the probability is very very high that you will only have this chance, before many of the people in the chain of command are killed, nowhere to be found or incapable to act. Somewhere in the us, there will be someone in the chain of command that is authorized to act, but the person has not much to do. That will not happen in days, that will happen in hours, probably in the first 2. The icbms will hit in the first 25-40 minutes, that planes will take hours, but think about it: the pilots and crew will deliver the bombs at any cost, because there is nothing to go home to. Submarines will also fire a few missiles to strategic targets, but will mainly act as backup, IF you need them after the first „rodeo“. There is also to this day no concept of ending a nuclear war. How to contact the enemy to make peace, when everything is gone. Who can you trust, who is the real person in charge. In reality, the living will envy the dead. |