2006-07-22 07:47:19 · 6 answers · asked by rampdogg2000 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Nuclear weapons are classified into tactical and strategic. Tactical weapons have low yields, meaning they are not powerful enough to level an area the size of a large city. These are meant for small area battles, and are intended to affect the outcome of the actual battle in which they are used in.
Stategic weapons are the more powerful nukes, capable of destroying everything within 1 mile of the blast. These are used in planning the overall military strategy of a nation, either used for offense or a deterrent for possible attack. In war, these are the nukes that actually hit strategic points of an enemy country, like key manufacturing cities, or sources of raw materials.
If we compare the two types of devices, tactical weapons are used in battle to gain the advantage in the short term, while the strategic versions are used as part of the long-term goal of a war.
2006-07-22 08:12:54 · answer #1 · answered by dennis_d_wurm 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's a low-yield nuclear weapon that could be used to blow up an army division on the battlefield, but not a whole city. City-annhilating ones are known as "strategic"... because just having them and having the enemy know you have them is often enough.
2006-07-22 14:50:20 · answer #2 · answered by DakkonA 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Whether a nuke is tactical or strategic depends on its delivery systems as well as its yield. Think of tactical as having to do with battlefield tactics. You'll have small mobile launchers intended for small, possibly mobile, military targets (small to a nuke means like a tank formation or a deep bunker). Strategic means having to do with the strategy of deterence. Think "You blow up my cities, and I'll blow up yours", as in the cold war. This strategy was called "Mutual Assured Destruction" or, appropriately, MAD.
2006-07-22 18:06:32 · answer #3 · answered by Dr. R 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A small-yield nuke that doesn't demolish an entire county in a single blast. The nuclear explosion is concentrated in a space the size of a building or a city block.
2006-07-22 14:50:49 · answer #4 · answered by giovanni9686 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you got 1 ur friends will think twice before using theirs
2006-07-22 14:50:26 · answer #5 · answered by lumwoz 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't have the curiousity you do but here's where you can read up about it
2006-07-22 15:00:56 · answer #6 · answered by crazygreeniis 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋