Quote:
Originally Posted by RN7
A 20MT warhead might do the job, but I still would be open to a second missile strike on Australia's largest city. I think RAAF Richmond is home to much of Australia's military airlift resources, although its unlikely that all would be based there.
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Based maybe, but unlikely to remain there in the event of a war. Unless the nukes were sent as the opening shots of the war, I can't see a nuke hitting more than a handful of transport aircraft plus the servicing facilities (which I'm sure are duplicated elsewhere in various forms).
Quote:
Originally Posted by RN7
A MIRV strike then perphaps?
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Newcastle, Woolongong and especially Sydney would need multiple warheads to take out completely. Unlike cities in the northern hemisphere (especially Europe), Australian cites are spread over a very wide area. Sydney, with only approximately 4 million people (a little under a 1/5th of the total Australian population) takes about an hour to drive across even taking the motorways and cruising at around 110 kph.
Richmond is approximately 50km from Garden Island/CBD, Orchard hills is 20km from Richmond, Holsworthy 45km from Richmond and Holsworthy to the CBD/Garden Island area is about 30km.
It is my estimate that you'd need at
least five warheads to significantly damage just those targets mentioned.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RN7
Worth a nuke then?
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I'm on the fence about this one actually. Being primarily just a training centre, it would be relatively easy to set up again elsewhere and be up and running within a short period or time (provided instructors could be found).
During WWII and Vietnam, other locations also conducted recruit training, so...
It's be worth a nuke if there were a few free, but it's not a location I'd have on my primary list (even though personally I'd LOVE to see it as a smoking, radioactive hole in the ground, but then so would anyone else who's ever been subjected to it's horrors).