Stockpile.

This is coolbert:

You can see from the accompanying graph that the two nuclear super-powers have dramatically cut back stockpiles of nuclear weaponry in the recent decades. From tens of thousands of warheads, the numbers for both is now LESS than ten thousand each.

And IS declining further.

Will never decline to zero, but at least for the U.S., the goal is to reach around a number of about a thousand [1000] warheads on station at any given time. NO MORE than that are needed for foreseeable circumstances. Other warheads will be mothballed and COULD be refurbished if necessary, but how of those will be remains to be seen.

This IS a dramatic and amazing reversal from the status quo that exist for about fifty years.

MORE nukes was always better.

NO longer the case.

One reason for this being so was that development and improvement of CONVENTIONAL ARMAMENTS HAS ALSO BEEN A CONSTANT UPWARD. Many "conventional" weapons NOW have the same effect as A TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPON.

Emphasis here upon TACTICAL.

A TACTICAL nuclear weapon is defined as one having the effect of killing or instantly incapacitating an entire company of enemy troops [about 200 men] with a single detonation, punching a hole about 200 meters wide in a frontage on the battlefield.

[this would be a burst of low kilo-tonnage range, from one to two kilotons.]

Advancements in conventional weaponry have eliminated the need for such low yield nukes to a great extent.

These weapons and weapons systems can be categorized generally as:

* Cluster bomb units [CBU's].

Appears to be a conventional bomb when dropped from a combat aircraft. But breaks open and disperses dozens or hundreds of bomblets over an area of several football fields. Bomblets that are sometimes referred to as "lawn darts". Bomblets, that when striking the ground, bounce up six feet into the air and detonate. Releasing a spew of ball bearings or armor piercing fletchettes. Anyone above ground or even in an uncovered foxhole become instant "hamburger".

[The Rockeye is such a CBU that releases shaped-charges that have an anti-armor capability. Rain bomblets on tank formations that creates a whole lot of hurt. Perhaps even more deadly that atomic attack!!!???]

* Improved conventional munitions [ICM].

Bomblet discharging weaponry fired from artillery or multiple launch rocket systems. Spew bomblets on a battlefield as would a CBU dropped from an aircraft. In this case, bomblets spewed from ground force weapons.

* Fuel air explosives [FAE].

A big propane gas bomb. A very large canister of propane gas is dropped from a special transport aircraft. A parachute retards the fall of the bomb. At a certain height above the target, the propane gas, under pressure is released. When the bomb is at an altitude determined by temperature, humidity, air pressure, etc., detonation occurs. All that propane gas is ignited with an enormous explosion occurring. Within the U.S. arsenal, ONLY atomic weaponry exceeds FAE in destructiveness!!!!

* Precision guided munitions [PGM].

Laser and television guided weapons that allow for precise targeting and destruction of enemy structures such as bridges and reinforced concrete bunkers with a single bomb.

Think here of that bunker hit during the First Gulf War where 500 people inside were killed. A bunker designed to survive a nearby nuclear detonation was destroyed with one hit from a conventional but guided bomb. That particular bunker had a roof consisting of ten feet thick concrete that was lifted off the walls by the internal force of the explosion, but set back down intact! A formidable structure the innards of which were destroyed by one bomb hit.

Phenomenal!

Include here among the PGM the JADAMS. A conventional bomb with a strap-on fin and guidance system. When dropped from say a B-52 bomber at 40,000 feet, a JADAMS is guided to a designated target by the GPS satellite system. Used widely in Afghan with effectiveness.

* Weapons systems such as the carpet bombing B-52 bomber or the AC-130 gunship.

B-52 bombers in Vietnam, three flying in formation, all dropping their payloads on command, could devastate an area 1 1/2 miles long by 3/4 miles wide!!! This sort of bombing is no longer preferred. JADAMS precision is more appropriate.

The AC-130 gunship has an awesome capability in the right scenarios. Can obliterate any targets within a football field size area with a short burst [1-3 seconds!!] of it's armaments [20 mm cannon, 40 mm cannon, 105 mm cannon]!!

The wide variety of options available to the field combat commander has eliminated the reliance on nuclear weapons. Conventional weaponry, deadly in the extreme, can now do the job that ONLY ONCE nukes could do!!

coolbert.