So, arm chair generals, what happens now? North Korea launched another one and this one actually flew. Anything?

@UndeadPrivateer: Hmm,, What's going to make nukes not matter?

@puck61: Hypervelocity impactors, which are in the middle stages of R&D right now. Kind of like a missile but goes [i]incredibly[/i] fast and generally wouldn't be armed with any kind of explosive because the impact force alone is sufficient to create destruction comparable to a tactical nuclear device. The speed at which these impactors can be prepared, deployed and strike their targets is faster than the preparation and deployment time for nukes and satellite detection of nuclear devices is pretty advanced. They can literally be fueled up, launched and strike the other side of the world faster than the nuke can be fueled and targeted.

Meaning that once they're developed, you would have almost no chance whatsoever of ever being able to successfully launch a nuclear device and strike a target. Not to mention all the already existing interdiction technologies like masers, lasers, standard high velocity impactors(big mostly empty metal cylinders they crash into a rocket mid-flight to disable it), etc would catch anything that did in fact manage to launch. Rendering nukes about as obsolete as the bow and arrow after the invention of the automatic firearm.

@UndeadPrivateer: Wow! That's the best bad news I've heard in a while! Mutually assured futility would be great!

@puck61: It seems to have Russia a little frazzled, honestly, since the first news of their development came out they've been scrambling to bulk up their air defense network in some kind of attempt to counter them. However there aren't many ways to even detect the things, since they go so fast radar has trouble picking them up in the first place and presumably they'd be coated in the same materials as stealth bombers and such to even further improve that. Most recent news seems to imply the Russians are now scrambling to try and develop similar weapons, but they're a good 10-15 years behind the US. Research on these started in the early 00s.

This is one of the reasons why the naysayers of the nuclear deal with Iran really mystify me. They obviously have no idea of the bigger picture of US arms development. It wouldn't matter if Iran could start going into nuclear weapons development in 15 years, they'd never be able to accomplish anything with it at that point.

@UndeadPrivateer: No disrespect intended, but if I were absolutely certain about the veracity of what you're saying, it would completely change my opinion on a lot of things including the Iran nuke situation! It would be a whole different ball game!

@puck61: There's very little reason for this to be fabricated, in fact all the reason for it [i]not[/i] to be due to the national defense and arms race implications, and it's based on well established science. There's nothing very esoteric about hypervelocity impactors, at its core it's just a really fast moving hunk of metal, it's really just a matter of figuring out a shape that doesn't shred itself apart at such high speeds. Which there's been decent progress with, it's only a matter of time. Hypervelocity objects exist in nature, no reason why mankind can't make 'em.

@UndeadPrivateer: Wouldn't it be too tempting for some bad actor to add depleted uranium to the HVI;s?

@puck61: Depleted uranium isn't very radioactive or anything, it's just really dense. Very similar to lead in density but a bit harder, hence its use in penetrator rounds. There's enough radioactivity to be dangerous to a handful of proximal individuals should they breathe in the dust of the vaporized munition but nothing like an atomic bomb. Though it really seems like that would be counter to the purpose of the impactor design, you don't want them overly heavy or else their acceleration slows down and thus they're slower and need more fuel which means more fueling time or more power for some kind of powered delivery system like a mass driver(AKA a railgun), which is then easier to detect and thus easier to counter. It becomes a race of speed at that point rather than lethality.

By the by, the name of the US Defense program is "Prompt Global Strike," if you're so inclined to research it. Very interesting stuff. There's been several tests of various platforms that have been shown to the media, though the larger scale of it is of course top secret.

@UndeadPrivateer: DU came to mind because of it's density, and the residual effect in Iraq has been tragic. Anyway, thanks for the info. I'm definitely going to read up on it. 👍🏽