Sino-Soviet War in 1969

cgomes

Banned
Did china have any delivery systems other than bombers by 69? I'm pretty sure the soviets would be able to intercept that before any bomber gets to major population center (other than vladivostok, possibly)
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
I wonder if the escalation of the split could be advanced. Perhaps if the Soviets reached this point of annoyance with the Chinese a couple years earlier, during the Johnson Administration, the US would not have voiced its opposition so clearly.
 
Did china have any delivery systems other than bombers by 69? I'm pretty sure the soviets would be able to intercept that before any bomber gets to major population center (other than vladivostok, possibly)

Small numbers of Dongfeng 1 (550km range) - basically a copy of the Soviet R-2 - and Dongfeng 2 (1250km range) - a copy of the Soviet R-4/SS-3 Shyster.

Not very useful as strategic weapons - they could hit (say) Novosibirsk or Alma-Ata, but not Chelyabinsk, let alone Moscow.

Against that, the Soviets can deploy nuclear-tipped ABM-1 Galoshes. Of course, most of those sites were in European Russia. I've no idea whether the Soviets redeployed any during this crisis.

For bombers, they had a small number of their versions of IL-28's and Tu-16's. Nothing the Soviets won't be able to sweep out of the skies in short order.

The PRC nuclear force is likely going to have a short exciting life. If they strike first, they might take out a handful of Siberian cities or bases and hit a few ground formations. But even that is a big "if." The Soviets could, by contrast, burn much of China down to bedrock whilst keeping an ample force reserved for the U.S. and NATO.
 

cgomes

Banned
I do believe that the soviets would be able to predict chinese plans, simply due to superior intel.


Vladivostok and the like'd be screwed regardless, but China'd be glassed.
 
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