Word: kiloton
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Africa and Antarctica. Officials disclosed that sensing devices on a U.S. satellite had detected the explosion. What the sensors ''saw'' was a flash of light, which dimmed for a microsecond, then became brighter. It was interpreted to be the tell-tale signature of a two-kiloton nuclear blast...
...retaliate for the strike without escalating the conflict, Washington might order a ten-missile attack on Soviet oil refineries. The OTA evaluates a case in which the U.S. fires three Minuteman Ills, each carrying a trio of warheads that can deliver a 170 kiloton explosive force, and seven submarine-launched Poseidon missiles that carry a total of 64 warheads, each with a 40 kiloton force. The attack instantly destroys 73% of Soviet refining capacity. But because the U.S. weapons are less powerful than Soviet warheads, there is less general damage. Between 1 million and 1.5 million people would...
...should be possible to reduce the 5000 to 7000 ready 40-kiloton warheads now on our recommended 31 boats down to one warhead per missle, 16 tubes per boat, for a total of 496 warheads. This is an adequate deterrent. It would still guarantee about 40 equivalent megatons delivered-more than a third of Soviet industry at once, with the probably prompt death of 15 to 20 million people. We say nothing of the raging fires, the confire mated lands, the burned and injured, the epidemic of tumors, the dearth of food and fuel and shelter in the winter...
...issue is a 1-kiloton nuclear bomb* that can be delivered to battlefield targets by 20-ft. Lance missiles, with a range of 75 miles, or by 8-in. howitzer shells, which can be fired about 13 miles. The weapon gets its name from the fact that on detonation it releases enormous quantities of radioactive neutrons that kill people without destroying buildings. According to proponents, the bomb could break up a Soviet tank attack without destroying buildings outside the battle zone. Moreover, since most neutron radiation dissipates in seconds, NATO troops could move in quickly to secure the battlefield...
Nuclear arms production began 32 years ago when an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped a 15-kiloton atomic device on Hiroshima. Prior to this, the largest bomb developed had been the "blockbuster," so named because it was capable of devastating an entire city block. The Hiroshima bomb had a destructive force equivalent to 1300-2000 blockbusters and the one A-bomb virtually pulverized a city of more than 300,000 inhabitants. When President Truman heard the news, he said: "This is the greatest thing in history...