TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS

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The Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he intends to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus

What are tactical nuclear weapons?

• Nuclear weapons can be categorised into two types — strategic and tactical.
• Strategic weapons refer to weapons that have bigger objectives, such as destroying cities or larger targets with larger war-waging objectives in mind.
• Strategic nuclear weapons would likely be used to bring the enemy to its knees entirely with a massive strike like the United States did in World War II when its nuclear weapons forced Japanese surrender.
• Tactical weapons are limited in their scope and the intention behind their usage is limited to arriving at a particular battlefied outcome.
• An example of a tactical nuclear weapon would be its use to stop adversary’s progress in a particular theatre.
• Tactical nuclear weapons are called “non-strategic nuclear weapons”.

Tactical (non-strategic) nuclear weapons (TNWs) typically refer to short-range weapons, including:

1. land-based missiles with a range of less than 500 km
2. air- and sea-launched weapons with a range of less than 600 km
3. Tactical nuclear weapons are intended to destroy enemy troops and weapons on the battlefield.

They have a relatively short range and a much lower yield than nuclear warheads.

• Unlike strategic weapons, which have been subject to arms control agreements between Moscow and Washington, tactical weapons never have been limited by any such pacts.
• While strategic nuclear weapons are fitted to land- or submarine-based intercontinental ballistic missiles that are constantly ready for launch, tactical nuclear weapons are stored at a few tightly guarded storage facilities and it takes time to deliver them to combat units.

How can they be used?

• Tactical nuclear warheads can be placed on various types of missiles which are normally used to deliver conventional explosives, such as cruise missiles and artillery shells.
• They can also be fired from aircraft and ships as anti-ship missiles, torpedoes and depth charges.

SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB