Can a Hardened Nuclear Missile Silo Be Disable With A conventional weapons strike?

Discussion in 'Nuclear, Chemical & Bio Weapons' started by Dayton3, Sep 16, 2017.

  1. Dayton3

    Dayton3 Well-Known Member

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    I know that a hardened nuclear missile silo can be destroyed or disabled with a nuclear strike.

    A common thing you hear is that a 300 kiloton warhead detonating within 100 meters (330 feet) will neutralize a hardened silo and the missile within.

    But what about a conventional warhead? Can a modern conventional warhead, say something oversized like a 3,000 lb. bomb do the same thing if it makes a direct hit?
     
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  2. ESTT

    ESTT Well-Known Member

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    This is just my estimation, but it might be able to disable the silo if it's a direct hit like you said. Perhaps it would also depend on what part of the facility it hits. If the hatch for the missile is severely damaged, or breached, the missile would be either damaged or destroyed. But even if only the doors themselves are ruined, the missile might be unable to fire properly and the silo would become useless for a relatively long while. Though it may take a Bunker Buster to adequatly breach the hatch.
     
    Last edited: Sep 18, 2017
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  3. Mrbsct

    Mrbsct Active Member

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    Yes that is why Russia fears Prompt Global Strike
     
  4. Deckel

    Deckel Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Getting the direct hit is going to be your challenge with most of the conventional weapons that can do it.
     
  5. modernpaladin

    modernpaladin Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Kinetic Bombardment would do the trick. A guided tungsten telephone pole dropped from high orbit has unbeatable penetration.

    Of course, those 'dont exist'...
     
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2017
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  6. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    No and no.

    A direct hit on the ICBM launch missile silo, only if you had a original bunker buster that was built from a naval 8" gun barrel.

    The silo operations C&C center, I doubt it.

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  7. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    That's why Americas first bunker buster bombs were made from naval cruiser gun barrels.

    Just think if President Clinton had not broke the law and cut up all of the Iowa class 16" gun barrels...

    America would have the Mother of all Bunker Busters in the world.

    A whole lot of piano wire involved in a naval gun barrel that is larger than 5".
     
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  8. Mrbsct

    Mrbsct Active Member

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    Battleships are obsolete. Ask any modern Naval Admiral.

    This topic has nothing to do with battleships. They don't have the range to strike silos.
     
  9. Kash

    Kash Member

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  10. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    They fear PGS because they worry they'd mistake a conventional ballistic missile launch for a nuclear one.
     
  11. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    Yes, without question.
     
  12. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Why the Dream of Bringing Back the Battleships Still Won't Sink -> http://nationalinterest.org/blog/th...ng-back-the-battleships-still-wont-sink-21554

    Vandenberg AFB is on the coast and has ICBM and ABM missile silos and launch pads.



    Vandenberg Air Force Base is located on the central coast of California.

    Vandenberg AFB is the only military base in the United States from which unmanned government and commercial satellites are launched into polar orbit.

    The base encompasses over 98,000 acres, with 35 miles of pristine coastline stretching along the Pacific Ocean. It is truly a military installation in a national park setting.


    [​IMG]
    Here's what last night's rocket launch at Vandenberg AFB looked like from around California - LA Daily News
    9/24/17 8:29 PM |Vandenberg Air Force Base - Google News
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    Postponed rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base set for Saturday night - Lompoc Record
    9/23/17 12:35 AM |Vandenberg Air Force Base - Google News
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    Thursday night launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base postponed - Lompoc Record
    9/22/17 12:52 AM |Vandenberg Air Force Base - Google News

    [​IMG]
    http://www.terrastories.com/bearings/vandenberg-abandoned-missile




     
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2017
  13. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    Vandenberg is a TESTING facility. There are no warhead-equipped ICBM’s deployed there.
     
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  14. Guess Who

    Guess Who Well-Known Member

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    I hope all the nuke profiteers rot in hell. We have plenty enough weapons to kill each other with. Nukes are evil weapons and should be eliminated from the face of the earth. So should nuke power plants and their waste.
     
  15. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Loose lips sink ships.

    Vandenberg AFB is also one of the two active ABM sites. The other being in Alaska.

    Not saying which silos are being used for obvious reasons but this is one of them.

    [​IMG]

    I was just responding to there were no missile silos with in range of naval gunfire. Vandenberg has missile silos that can launch ICBM's and they all are with in less than a mile or two from the beach.

    I've been aboard Vandenberg AFB five or six times. The last time I was there I noticed that the Air Force security teams have been significantly beefed up and they aren't your typical A.F. security teams.
     
  16. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    The ABM fields are not within a mile or two of the beach. The silos that are that close are used for testing, they aren't used for nuclear deterrent purposes.

    Plus, US battleships aren't going to be attacking US silos. No other country has ICBM fields within reach of a battleship.
     
  17. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    I can't comment which of the missile silos at Vandenberg are being used for ABM.
     
  18. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    The ABM sites are new construction sites and are on the eastern side of the base. Their grand opening was a pretty big public ceremony.

    The rest of Vandenberg is a test site.
     
  19. APACHERAT

    APACHERAT Well-Known Member Past Donor

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  20. Dayton3

    Dayton3 Well-Known Member

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    Four sentences.

    Four staggeringly huge errors.
     
  21. JakeJ

    JakeJ Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Agreed, but that was not his point. The point is a 16 inch naval gun barrel converted to a bunker buster bomb dropped from altitude with be able to carry a HUGE amount of explosives and would penetrate VERY deeply.
     
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  22. JakeJ

    JakeJ Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The numbers of deaths from war both in percentage and numerically had dropped radically since the atom bomb. Nuclear weapons make world wars and wars between major nations impossible.
    But for nuclear weapons we could be in WW7 by now with a billion people plus dead.
     
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  23. Guess Who

    Guess Who Well-Known Member

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    This is one good argument fro the nukes but I still wish the were never created as the did the mad who slit the atom or whatever ,I forget more than most know about thing too much age or too much stress,not sure. Probably both. haha
     
  24. Mushroom

    Mushroom Well-Known Member

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    At the moment.

    Back in the day, VAFB was host to both the ATLAS and TITAN series of missiles. And not only were they tested there, they were also active launch facilities. This remained the case until the 3rd generation Minuteman system came online and all of the older 1st and 2nd generation launch sites were closed in favor of placing them all in the central US.

    But the GBI is indeed active there, not only for testing purposes but as in an active and operational weapon defense system.

    So no, it is not only for testing.
     
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  25. Questerr

    Questerr Banned

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    We're specifically talking about today. Apacherat is trying to come up with justification for needing battleships to attack coastal missile silos, which no country has. The closest is Vandenberg and it doesn't have active warheads.
     

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