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SampanViking

The Capitalist
Staff member
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Actually I have a question and it relates to Strategic Defence globally rather than just China.

All Nuclear Forces drill and drill regularly, the drills test the procedures (drill) and the equipment systems etc. When the drills are undertaken, I understand that the participants are informed early on, that it is only a drill and so have no issues with completing the procedures and simulating a weapons launch.
I am also aware, that in popular fiction, that when the order is real, there is often pyschological issues with actually launching the weapons.

My question is this. Do strategic forces ever tell the participants that a drill is not an exercise but the real thing, in order to test the psychological response of the soldiers?

Thanks
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
The detailed specifics of those drills are highly sensitive and under wraps of high security clearances.

I do know that there are some parts of drills for each part of the triad (though the drills for the bombers have been reduced significantly over what they once were) where personnel are not informed in advance that they are only involved in a drill. Such exercises, of course, stop short of any weapon actually being brought to any stage of readiness for launch.

As to the exact specifics...including the physiological analysis part of it...I doubt we will ever have that in open source availability.
 

no_name

Colonel
My question is this. Do strategic forces ever tell the participants that a drill is not an exercise but the real thing, in order to test the psychological response of the soldiers?

Thanks

What if it's the real thing and they still tell you it's an exercise? :D
 

solarz

Brigadier
Actually I have a question and it relates to Strategic Defence globally rather than just China.

All Nuclear Forces drill and drill regularly, the drills test the procedures (drill) and the equipment systems etc. When the drills are undertaken, I understand that the participants are informed early on, that it is only a drill and so have no issues with completing the procedures and simulating a weapons launch.
I am also aware, that in popular fiction, that when the order is real, there is often pyschological issues with actually launching the weapons.

My question is this. Do strategic forces ever tell the participants that a drill is not an exercise but the real thing, in order to test the psychological response of the soldiers?

Thanks

It's an interesting question. Would you be willing to press a button if you know full well that doing so will cause the death of millions of people, and possibly even the destruction of the world, including everything you love and cherish?
 

no_name

Colonel
It's an interesting question. Would you be willing to press a button if you know full well that doing so will cause the death of millions of people, and possibly even the destruction of the world, including everything you love and cherish?

Hence post #14 :D
 

no_name

Colonel
Maybe they drill you again and again under timed circumstances, and they never tell you in each case whether it is the real one or not.

And then the day you retire/reassigned you got out of the bunker and you see that the sky is still blue and you say a prayer. :p

In other words it is not your job to ponder if an order is a valid one, your job is just to execute them, and trust that the higher ups will not screw things up. Things like this happens a lot in real life - like when you trust your banks not to screw with your money that you've deposited with them.
 
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delft

Brigadier
Maybe they drill you again and again under timed circumstances, and they never tell you in each case whether it is the real one or not.

And then the day you retire/reassigned you got out of the bunker and you see that the sky is still blue and you say a prayer. :p

In other words it is not your job to ponder if an order is a valid one, your job is just to execute them, and trust that the higher ups will not screw things up. Things like this happens a lot in real life - like when you trust your banks not to screw with your money that you've deposited with them.
The defence "Befehl ist Befehl" was not accepted in Nuremberg.
 

no_name

Colonel
It's not accepted, but that is not the point of discussion here, and in an event of a nuclear war there are more to worry about than a trial.

Also, there might be a difference between just following orders but being aware of the consequences of following such orders, versus following instructions in the blind. If you were told to pull a trigger in a room while in another room another person is shot without you being aware of it, are you still guilty of the crime? I won't offer an answer but suffice to say that you signed away a measure of moral/legal guarantees when you sign up for the armed forces. You are in effect short of selling your soul away to third party for the contracted period and you trust that he is not the devil or will not become one.

People sign up for the armed forces with their own thoughts of how things would be like but it does not matter, what matters is what those in control of said armed forces want to do, and once you signed up you are required to follow orders or face consequences, and if the order is 'wrong' you will still share some repercussions. Which is why it is said in the art of war that "Now the general is the bulwark of the State; if the bulwark is complete at all points; the State will be strong; if the bulwark is defective, the State will be weak." I would add that if the general is wrong, all that follows him would be wrong, hence victory is sometimes everything that an army strives for, and victory depends on setting the right goals, and knowing what can be attempted and what should not be.

Which raises another point namely that whether using nuclear weapons on civilian targets like large cities constitutes as war crime. If you are the victor I guess you could get away with it but it's unlikely that there would be a clear winner in a large scale nuclear exchange.
 
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Victor1985

New Member
Registered Member
Question: does china intend to put lasers on big planes like us did? Also are there in china programs for developing electromagnetic spectrum weapons like haarp or something?
 
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