Vorkuta Sovetsky (Vorkuta East) is a an airfield in the Komi Republic (Russian Federal Subject). Reported to be built in the 1950's as an staging base for Long Range Aviation, it has one of the largest runways in the Russian Arctic Region. Maintained by the 364th OSAE (Independent Composite Aviation Squadron), or the OGA (Arctic Control Group).
Vorkuta Sovetsky has no IATA identifier, nor a ICAO identifier, this confirms its existence as strictly a military airfield. It is unreported as to what types of aircraft were or are stationed at Vorkuta Sovetsky, but with it being under OGA command and having one of the largest runways in the region, it is most likely the Tu-22M Long Range Strategic Strike Bomber, Tu-16 Strategic Bomber, Tu-4 Strategic Bomber, Tu-160 Heavy Strategic Bomber and Tu-95 Long Range Strategic Bomber stood standby at the installation.
Novaya Zemlya is an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean in the north of Russia was the USSR's largest and most used Nuclear Testing Site. First designation in 1954, after Soviet Forces relocated some 50-300 Nenetses peoples from the island. Split into three zones (Zones A thru C) Chyornaya Guba being "Zone A" used from 1955 thru 1962 and again from 1972 to 1975, Matochkin Shar being "Zone B" used from 1964 to 1990 for underground testing, and lastly Sukhoy Nos being "Zone C" used from 1958 to 1961, and also the site of the infamous 50MT Tsar Bomba (world's largest nuclear device ever detonated).
In 1961 two propelled nuclear devices Vorkuta Sovetsky (nice tie in Treyarch) and Salekhard, launched into Novaya Zemlya and hitting their respective targets. This very same system was deployed to Cuba.
With the advent of the Limited Test Ban Treaty, eliminating all atmospheric testing. Reportedly the largest underground detonation ever on Novaya Zemlya was on September 12, 1973, implementing four separate devices with a combined yield of 4.2 megatons, the confined blast pressure rivaled that f natural earthquakes. The detonation provided a 6.97 reading on the Richter Scale and creating a 80,000,000 avalanche that blocked two glacial streams and created a lake1.5 miles across. Novaya Zemlya's history boasts 224 nuclear detonations, with a combined energy of 265 Megatons (of TNT).
To this day, while some of Novaya Zemlya is once again inhabited, much still remains as a sensitive military installation, especially the Rogachevo Air Base on the Southern half of the main island, which remains active and was used a logistical support base and aircraft intercept base during the Cold War.
As of 1990, with the fall of the Soviet Union and establishment of the Russian Federation, Novaya Zemlya was the site of the last nuclear test by both the Soviet Union and Russian Federation. Since 1990 very little testing has occurred at Novaya Zemlya, the most recent being in 1998 by the Ministry for Atomic Energy, sub-critical detonation experiments utilizing Weapons Grade Plutonium.
Mutually Assured Destruction, the linchpin that has held the world from obliterating itself in a Nuclear Armageddon...or so we are to believe. In any discussion of nuclear weapons and their possible deployment, many will instantly state that the theory of Mutually Assured Destruction will prevent even the thought of nuclear weapons from being an option on a national government's table, regardless of how reckless, rouge or fanatical said government may be.
Firstly, the M.A.D. Theory is just that, a theory. It's an educated guess, a SWAG if you will. It's the scientific communities best synopsis of what "could" happen if full-scale, high yield nuclear weapons were used. This is no dig at the scientific community, because the theory is a possibly. However, Mutually Assured Destruction is based on the thought process that the US and Soviet Union (or any two nation states) would use their Tsar Bomba's and Castle Bravo's against each other, however both nation's nuclear ambitions were in full swing and our nuclear programs were very, very immature.
In the 1950's, ICBM's, SLBM's and NCM's didn't exist. The majority of nuclear weapons were very large, high yield and aviation delivered. We had yet to stream-line weapon design and deployment as well as perfect a missile that could cross not only continent(s), but one that could exit Earth's atmosphere and then again re-enter with a nuclear payload and hit it's target. In 1959 with the induction of the SM-65 Atlas ICBM, that face of nuclear warfare changed forever.
As the Nuclear Arms Race raged on, nuclear warheads were stream-lined and miniaturized, now with the ability to accurately hit targets with the use of inertial guidance and radio communication the need for extremely high yield weapons was over. Rather than use a single, massive warhead, one could now simply just obliterate the Kremlin or shower Moscow with MIRVs.
This is were M.A.D. starts to take a dive. In these modern times, with ICBM's, SLBM's and NCM's and their respective payloads that are smaller and often variable yield. This enables a nation to engage in deployment of Tactical Nuclear assets, without overstepping into Strategic Nuclear asset deployment. With militarizes that have the capability to deploy weapons platform's with yield as little as 0.2KT, the ability to wage nuclear war on a limited scale is a very real possibility. Of course this does enable the escalation of violence to lead to the deployment of Strategic Nuclear assets and eventually the use of higher yield weapons or even ERW (Enhanced Radiation Weapons). This scenario is far more probable and negates the M.A.D. theory because M.A.D. plays on the value of life, but if one is currently engaged in tactical, limited nuclear exchange, the possibility of escalation is not only present, but arguably an inevitably, especially when to escalate all one has to do is increase the yield on a variable yield platform, and start striking at economic or infrastructure based targets.
Another flaw in the M.A.D. Theory is the assumption that whomever is in possession of nuclear arms values life on the same scale as you. Unfortunately with the existence of terror groups and rouge nation states (e.a. Iran, North Korea) the theory is useless. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and the multiple satellite nations that housed Soviet nuclear weapons with little oversight...it's only a matter of time before the chef met the ingredients. Not that the United States isn't just as irresponsible with nuclear arms, stories of at least 11 unaccounted for warheads dating as far back as the 1950's (the 1958 Tybee Island crash, the 1961 Goldsboro crash and the 1968 Thule AFB crash being some of the most infamous) and yet other horror stories of nuclear weapons being delivered to the wrong bases or being taken as payload unbeknown to the pilot and flight crew. List of Military Nuclear Accidents - Wikipedia
South Africa was a nuclear power from the 1960's to the 1980's, if South Africa can develop nuclear weapons with the assistance of the United States in the 1960's, Iran or North Korea with assistance from the Russian Federation or Peoples' Republic of China can and are doing the same.
With the existence of such groups and nations, who could/would gleefully utilize nuclear or radiation weapons against the US regardless of repercussion, the M.A.D. Theory isn't even a theory, more so wishful thinking.
The shrinking of the US Nuclear Arsenal, ending of Strategic Air Command/North American Air Defense Command and the decommissioning of Civil Defense may be some of the biggest mistakes ever committed by this nation.
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is either a nuclear reaction or a radioactive decay process in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts (lighter nuclei), often producing free neutrons and photons (in the form of gamma rays), and releasing a very large amount of energy, even by the energetic standards of radioactive decay.
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion.
Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small
amounts of matter. The first fission ("atomic") bomb test released the
same amount of energy as approximately 20,000 tons of TNT. The first thermonuclear ("hydrogen") bomb test released the same amount of energy as approximately 10,000,000 tons of TNT.
Weapon Employment; Strategic Nuclear Weapons vs. Tactical Nuclear Weapons:
A strategic nuclear weapon refers to a nuclear weapon which is designed to be used on targets as part of a strategic plan, such as nuclear missile bases, military command centers and heavily populated civilian areas such as large towns and cities.
A tactical nuclear weapon (or TNW) refers to a nuclear weapon which is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations. This is as opposed to strategic nuclear weapons
which are designed to menace large populations, to damage the enemy's
ability to wage war, or for general deterrence. Tactical nuclear weapons
were a large part of the peak nuclear weapons stockpile levels during the Cold War.
(Estimated Tactical Forces)
Unknown; START, START II, New START, SORT, SALT, SALT II does not regulate the amount of Tactical Nuclear Weapons a nation may have. Estimated range with 2,000 currently deployed tactical warheads.
Land-based Platforms: 450 Silo-based Minuteman III ICBM Warheads w/ SIRV, No Mobile Platforms
Sea-based Platforms: 18 Boomers (Ohio Class Missile Subs), 14 Ballistic Missile Subs w/ 24 Trident II SLBM's per sub, 12 Cruise Missile Subs (Currently no Nuclear Cruise Missiles deployed).
Aviation-based Platforms: 94 B-52 Stratofortress, 19 B-2 Spirit, (B-1B retrofitted for conventional munitions only, no-long capable of nuclear armament), 400 Unguided Bombs known amount of Nuclear GBU (Unguided Bombs capable of becoming guided with retrofit similar to JDAM), 300-550 Nuclear Cruise Missiles.
(Estimated Tactical Force)
The US utilizes part of it's Strategic Nuclear Force, as a Tactical Nuclear Force. Platforms such as the B61 maintain variable yield capabilities, giving forces the ability to set the weapons yield from 340KT for strategic use or to 0.3KT for tactical use. Other parts of the US Tactical Nuclear Force include it's aviation and sea based Nuclear Cruise Missiles, the W80 and W84 warheads used on US Nuclear Cruise Missiles are variable yield, being able to be set from 150KT for strategic use or down to 0.2KT for tactical use. United States Weapons of Mass Destruction - Wikipedia
