What areas in Nevada would be hit in a nuclear war?

BigBlueBox

Banned
In 1980s the Soviet arsenal was at its peak. Las Vegas would definitely have been a target, Creech AFB, Nellis AFB, and Area 51 would also have been targeted. Carson City might have been a target.
 

apollo11

Banned
What makes Vegas a worthy enough target to strike (besides being a populated city)?
Being a populated city in and of itself is good enough. Even without heavy industry having an untouched major metro region after a nuclear war would give the United States (or whatever nation rose up in the aftermath) a large advantage. Clark County in 1980 had a population of 463K persons. That is worth a warhead given the size of the Soviet arsenals.

Edit: Btw the Hoover Dam would be targeted as well.

Double Edit: And maybe Reno?
 
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Reno and LV would get hit at the airports. The Soviets/Russians would have to assume the B-52 fleet would get disbursed to alternative sites to protect from destruction. Any runway long enough for a B-52 is a potential, if not likely target.
 
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Definitely the military bases and important infrastructure in and around Las Vegas and Reno. If this is a post-2001 nuclear war, the area around Carson City and Northeastern Nevada might actually take a few ICBMs because the War on Terror-era PMCs have some facilities there.
 
Before the mid'80s, where the USSR had more warheads than what was worth targeting, it was expected to be this

nuclear-target-fallout-map.jpg

nuclear-fallout-1-week-later.jpg

Not a whole lot of NV targets
 
Nellis AFB borders Las Vegas.

McCarren International also has connections to the Air Force like the Janet flights and has runways long enough to handle any aircraft, including strategic bombers. It’s also right in the middle of the city. That will be a primary target.
 
The study on which all those maps are based is available here: https://fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/napb-90/

It is not clear whether NAPB considered airports with runways long enough to land a B-52 as targets. "Project Overview" and "Project Development" do discuss targets to some extent. Maybe those airports are counted, maybe not. Note that many airports were home to an ANG unit, which would make that place an Air Force facility rather than just an airport. Overall NAPB-90 is a massive countervalue strike; military facilities are attacked, but so are many chemical industries, electric plants, oil refineries and so on.
 
What makes Vegas a worthy enough target to strike (besides being a populated city)?

*Transportation hub: I-15, rail links, large airport, etc.

*Lots of people go for weekend trips there who could be vital in rebuilding after a war

*Take out Randall Flagg before he takes you out!

*Significant military infrastructure nearby, not just Nellis or its adherents

*Communications disruption

*Easily could become fallback for Hollywood/Los Angeles for mass media/propaganda/soft power purposes if left intact

*City has ample power and fresh water nearby - Hoover is not the only dam nearby (wonder what that circle at the very bottom of Nevada is on the map above?)
 
My last post was for the 1980s (though I left out the Loran backup HQ in Searchlight). Most of those still apply, but for 2018:

*Large automated factories under construction with largest or among the largest solar plants in the US just outside of Boulder City

*E-commerce depot

*Gold production in the surrounding area is significant, Nevada has between 5 and 10% of annual world gold output I think

*Major tech center/evolving IT hub

*Diamond hub (tools, industrial uses, etc).

*(other government facilities nearby)
 
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