Either small Davy-crocket style weapons or large atomic Annie's.
Urban Legend holds there were nuclear demolition charges available for emplacement at several crucial crossing points. These were back-packable tac-nukes, with a short-run timer. Just enough time to 'run, duck & cover', but you suspect some of the SpecFor teams would weigh the odds and go out with a bang...
Urban Legend holds there were nuclear demolition charges available for emplacement at several crucial crossing points. These were back-packable tac-nukes, with a short-run timer. Just enough time to 'run, duck & cover', but you suspect some of the SpecFor teams would weigh the odds and go out with a bang...
I like the phrase "tactical problem solver" myself.Truman (or Henry Wallace) decides to use the Bomb in Korea. Atomic weapons become normalized, no different than an incendiary bomb on a larger scale. By the late 50s, with weapons-grade fissiles plentiful, the US military equips with large quantities of small-scale atomics, and they become a standard part of battlefield tactics.
The idea that the atomic bomb is special - that, to quote Truman, it's "not a military weapon" - arose very early. But it was not inevitable.
One which one suspects they are reviving what with the Bear being very angry again.
I agree Korea 1950-51 would be the POD. If they are employed against enemy concentrations, logistic and communication sites, then we might see them as basically special area weapons rather than the fires of hell itself.
On the other hand once ballistic launchers on hair-trigger alert take over the deterrence game from manned bombers as in the OTL mid-1960's, then how do you maintain using nukes without risking a general war.
B-46?By Korea, could B-46s credibly carry nuclear payloads to targets?
B-46?
It wasn't as good as the B-45, that saw limited conventional use, and the B-47, that was too busy with SAC duties
Or typo?
Aren't EMP's overrated against a modern army? Like, people treat them as this infallible wonder weapon and ignore that countermeasures exist.
???WI artillery only had small neutron bombs or Electro-Magnetic Pulse bombs.
Neutron bombs were limited to less than 10k tons. They primarily emitted radiation strong enough to kill tankers inside their vehicles, but did comparatively little collateral damage.