Nuclear weapons tactical

Tactical nuclear weapon Nuclear weapon intended to affect the outcome of a tactical maneuver or battle. 

Battlefield tactical nuclear weapons also pose a potential threat, but to date have not been used. 

Lawrence Freedman, Britain and Nuclear Weapons (London Macmillan, 1980), pp. 20-1 Martin S. Navias, Nuclear Weapons and British Strategic Planning 1955-1958 (Oxford Clarendon Press, 1991), pp. 88-90. For decisions in favour of acquiring American tactical missiles and warheads, see Kaoru Kikuyama, Britain and the procurement of short-range nuclear weapons . Journal of Strategic Studies, 16 (1993), no. 4, 539-59. 

Tactical nuclear weapons are produced as 20 cm diameter shells. 

In trying to ascertain these weapons effectiveness, we must keep in mind that nuclear weapons have immediate and decisive effects, whether employed tactically on the battlefield or strategically against rear areas, and regardless of whether per-... 

Nerve agents are the most important CWs because of their high toxicity and versatility in tactical use. However, the production difficulty seems to be their most important drawback. Amateur production of CWAs or extraction of toxins by using cookbooks and A1 Qaeda-related manuals has commonly been overrated, leading to supposedly catastrophic consequences of terrorist attacks. In fact, CWs are frequently described as "the poor man s atomic bomb," but this description was used at the end of World War II to explain that for a state actor t5ung to acquire WMD capability, chemical and biological weapons would be a more feasible option than nuclear weapons, which require more complex technical resources. 

The relationship between chemical and nuclear weapons within the NATO/Warsaw Pact context is not easy to pin down, but is clearly perceived to exist, at least by members of NATO. It appears to operate at different levels - strategic as well as tactical. First, there is... 

This was, for example, implicit in the evidence of Dr Fred Ikle to the Committee on Armed Services, US House of Representatives, May 8 1974. Ninety-Third Congress, Second session, HASC No. 93-69, pp. 9-10. A study group set up by Republican congressmen in 1969 concluded that tactical nuclear weapons provided an effective deterrent to chemical attack. CBW and National Security - November 3 1969, published in Hearings Before the Subcommittee on National Security Policy and Scientific Developments of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, US House of Representatives, Ninety-First Congress, First Session, pp. 290-1.)... 

Figure 5.3. Red Beard — the successor to Blue Danube, and often described as a tactical nuclear weapon.

CHINA. As of 2006, the People s Republic of China (PRC) was estimated to possess 145 operational strategic nuclear weapons. China is thought to possess operational tactical nuclear weapons as well, although no unclassified information is available regarding numbers and types of such weapons. The PRC is a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and has declared that it possesses chemical weapons (CW) abandoned on its territory by Japan during World War II. It is estimated that at least 700,000 abandoned chemical weapons (ACW) are located in the PRC, mainly in the northeastern provinces. The nature and scope of a Chinese biological weapons (BW) program, if one exists or did exist, are unknown. 

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