Re: Teeny Nukes

----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard and Emily Bell" <rlbell@sympatico.ca>
> > So what exactly is the point of micro nukes if you have conventional
munitions (HE, FAE, plasma?, electrical?) that are just as powerful as
them,
but will leave no side-effects on your own occupying troops?
>
> An 0.02kilotonne conventional explosive charge has a mass of 0.02
kilotonnes, or about forty thousand pounds.  A 0.02kilotonne nuclear
charge
has a
> much smaller mass, probably on the order of fifty pounds (could be
much
less).	Blowing up an interchange on the autobahn requires either a
small
amount > of explosives and a lot of time, or a single large charge. 
When
you have to blow it up after the retreat, but before the russians get
there,
you only have time
> to employ the big charge.  Going nuclear allows several to fit in your
hummvee (instead of one taking up a whole truck).

In Cold War days, all of critical roads, bridges, etc. were prepared
with
the necessary holes to blow them up. And it was variously discussed that
nukes would be used for the purpose.
Not that we were happy about the prospect :-(
And given the excellent job Eastern spies did, the Russians probably
knew
every single hole :-(

Greetings