tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post4830924978334993258..comments2023-11-03T09:36:22.100-04:00Comments on In From the Cold: The Next Missile Crisis?George Smileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07049707648660651119noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-59508534919652122692010-12-13T11:12:22.057-05:002010-12-13T11:12:22.057-05:00History repeats, although not perfectly. The Cuba...History repeats, although not perfectly. The Cuban Missile Crisis emerged, at least in part, because JFK had repeatedly shown weakness and ineptitude in earlier dealings with Khrushchev. The opportunity to put nuclear missiles in Cuba must have looked like a sure winner to the Soviets, going into that operation.<br /><br />I was a participant in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Specifically, I was part of the Chromedome operation that had nuclear armed B-52s on 24-hour airborne alert. There were two routes: the northern route that ran out over the Atlantic Ocean and northward past Greenland; then it came southward over Alaska. The eastern route ran from the CONUS to the Mediterranean, passing over Spain on the outbound and return legs. I flew the KC-135 Stratotanker. At the peak of operations we were launching two aircraft per hour to refuel two outbound B-52s; the return B-52s were being refueled by KC-135s from Moron Air Base, Spain.<br /><br />The US response to the Soviet move was fast and overwhelming; the Soviets had nothing to match it. The Soviets were nothing, if not pragmatists; they knew when to fold 'em. We did remove our MRBMs from Turkey and Greece; however, those missiles were not all that secure from the outset. By December 1962 most of the Minuteman force was becoming operational. Like the B-47s, another stop-gap measure, and the need for the MRBMs was no longer pressing. I knew a Jupiter missile launch officer who was at a Turkish site on the Black Sea at the time. His name was Iceal E. Hambleton. He said he watched through binoculars as Soviet bombers orbited over the Black Sea. He estimated that he could just get his Jupiters fueled and launched before the bombers got to his site.<br /><br />I have written down some of my own recollections and opinions on that crisis. If you want to read it I will send you a copy.<br /><br />The current world political structure is nothing like the Cold War. Neither are, in my opinion, the quality of the various leaders. The current US leadership shows little in the way of leadership or skill. The other side shows nothing much better. It appears to me that the greatest risk in a confrontation now is miscalculation and the absence of rational self interest that guided past leaders.TOFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14234091783167165660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10820485.post-59265986747719894022010-12-11T23:56:03.431-05:002010-12-11T23:56:03.431-05:00When you talk about missiles and nukes most people...When you talk about missiles and nukes most people (almost all civilians) think mushroom clouds, thousands killed and whole cities burned.<br /><br />What they don't think about is something much worse. Much much worse. They don't think about this:<br /><br />"A high-altitude nuclear detonation produces an immediate flux of gamma rays from the nuclear reactions within the device. These photons in turn produce high energy free electrons by Compton scattering at altitudes between (roughly) 20 and 40 km. These electrons are then trapped in the Earth’s magnetic field, giving rise to an oscillating electric current. This current is asymmetric in general and gives rise to a rapidly rising radiated electromagnetic field called an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Because the electrons are trapped essentially simultaneously, a very large electromagnetic source radiates coherently.<br /><br />The pulse can easily span continent-sized areas, and this radiation can affect systems on land, sea, and air. The first recorded EMP incident accompanied a high-altitude nuclear test over the South Pacific and resulted in power system failures as far away as Hawaii. A large device detonated at 400–500 km over Kansas would affect all of CONUS. The signal from such an event extends to the visual horizon as seen from the burst point."<br /><br />Read the rest here:<br /><br />http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/emp.htm<br /><br />People ask me why I still have an old 75 Chevy pickup and a couple of old vacuum tube radios, along with other old things.<br /><br /> I just tell them I like old things.<br /><br />Papa RayPapa Rayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11454201360366303944noreply@blogger.com