Can anyone explain the difference between tactical and strategic thermo nuclear weapons?

Answer 1

no i can't, sorry. i'm blonde.

Answer 2

Its the difference between tactical and Strategic...think of it as Tactical being local and strategic being the overall, far reaching circumstances...so tactical weapons are used in the immediate battle and are of low yield, strategic weapons are of higher yield and would most likely be used as a first strike weapon or more likely as a weapon of last resort to destroy a large area...in reality the use of the tactical weapon would lead rapidly to the use of the strategic weapons and all out thermo nuclear war.

Answer 3

Tactical are usually short-range, covering approximately less than 300 miles
Tactical are, in general, smaller, more portable and low-yield compared to strategic
Tactical are intended for battlefield use in a theater setting; strategic are targeted- based on a strategic plan and generally include nuclear missile forces and cities.
Tactical are more diverse than strategic; they can take the form of artillery shells, mines, rockets, missiles etc.. strategic normally ICBM or air dropped munitions

Answer 4

A couple of people got it right above, just to add, the strategic nukes have a yield of 100 kilotons or more while the tactical nukes can get as low as .3 kilotons fired from artillery. The gray area is the ones in between, they could go either way, but as a rule of thumb, strategic nukes are over 100 kilotons in yield and are usually the ICBMs or SBLMs.

Answer 5

Tactical weapons are for use by commanders in the field. If nuclear (sorry, for the Bush Administration that would be “nuke-you-lar” they are usually of short yield.
Strategic weapons are usually in place, one hopes against reality a secret place, have large yield of 5 mega tons or more and are probably multiple reentry trajectory warheads. These are targeted not by field commanders but by national policy with tactical control at the discretion, in the case of the USA, of the President and actually command launched from a remote, protected location such as Cheyenne Mountain, with physical launch responsibility performed by two military officers physically at the individual missile site. Two officers are a safety feature since to activate the actual launch two special keys are required to be turned simultaneously. The locks for the keys are not within the simultaneous reach of any known human thereby proventing one individual from activating both keys.
That’s it in a nut shell from my limited knowledge.
Jim D

Answer 6

Tactical 'nukes are intended to be used on the battlefield same as bullets(VERY BIG BULLETS) against tactical objectives, ie enemy armoured concentrations, or heavily defended positions,Strategic nukes are intended to be used against so called strategic targets, Ie Cities, production centres, etc.

Answer 7

tactical nukes are nukes that do not have distance capabilities whereas strategic nukes are ones attached to long distance ballistic missiles and entire Strategic plans hence can be used in strategic theatres.

Usually tactical nukes are smaller in yield because they are meant to be used in battles, whereas strategic nukes are large yield strength meant to be used to force a final solution against an enemy.

Answer 8

I may be wrong, but as far as I'm aware there ARE no tactical thermonuclear warheads: these are hydrogen bombs, intended for city-wide destruction, and thus are strategic-level warheads only. Thermonuclear ONLY EVER refers to FUSION weapons, i.e. hydrogen bombs; not fission, or nuclear warheads.

Edit: Roscoe R, grow up.

Answer 9

strategic weapons usually have yields in the megaton range as opposed ti the kiloton range yields of tactical weapons

Answer 10

tactical nuclear weapons are used against military targets, on a battlefield
strategic nuclear weapons are used against infrastructure, in the enemy held territory, including the civilian population of the enemy country

Answer 11

Yes...when the Imperial USA uses them it is tactical or strategic..."good words"

but when any other country thinks about nuclear weapons it is evil and they are terrorists..bad words