Can Two Nuclear Powers Fight a Conventional War?

B-2 Bomber. YouTube

Marcus Weisgerber, Defense One: Can Two Nuclear Powers Fight a Conventional War?

The Pentagon just wargamed that scenario as part of its effort to determine what it needs for 21st-century deterrence.

As the U.S. military reviews the makeup of its nuclear arsenal, among the questions being asked is: Can two nuclear powers fight a conventional war without going nuclear?

Just last week, this scenario was among the mock battles when U.S. Strategic Command ran its annual Global Thunder nuclear wargame, Army Brig. Gen. Greg Bowen, the command’s deputy director of global operations, said Thursday at the Defense One Summit.

“It gets into a very difficult calculus,” Bowen said. “It’s clearly a place that we don’t want to go.”

That’s because when one country begins to lose a conventional battle, there is a temptation to use those nuclear weapons.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: In such a scenario .... where two nuclear powers are fighting a conventional war .... the temptation to use one's nuclear weaponry before the other ones does would be irresistible. Bottom line .... in such a war nuclear weapons will be used.

Subscribe to receive free email updates: