Quote:
Originally Posted by mpipes
US planning and treaties makes it very clear that under "joint control" or not, the US never looses ownership of the nuke. The US will never allow even the closest ally to gain sole control over a US nuclear weapon....simply will not happen This, in no small part, led to France leaving the NATO military command structure, as the French wanted its own control over the ultimate use of nuclear weapons rather than an American President. It is also the reason why the UK arms its Trident IIs with UK owned and designed weapons. Make no mistake, the US will go to war with an ally when it comes to trying to usurp US protocols and seize the weapons for their own use. Also, the permissive action links and protocols make it impossible for an ally to use the weapon without the necessary codes. While I have no actual knowledge of this, given classified protocols I did know about, I always doubted the PAL codes were available at an overseas base and the codes would only be communicated to the base after war broke out. Remember, we maintain weapons (admitted or not) in countries with varying degrees of stability, and we historically had weapons in countries that have had coups (South Korea, Libya, Turkey, etc), so security of the weapons in the context of attempted military seizure have been planned for.
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When I was in Special Weapons, we spent half our time training for the destruction of those rounds so they (and us) wouldn't fall into enemy hands (due to the "forward deployment" of tube-launched nuclear weapons on the battlefield). We would mount the fuse on the weapon and put a special "shaped charge" over them that, when detonated, would destroy the fuse, weapon, and ALL equipment and manuals in the section. This would also turn the area into a MAJOR HAZMAT SITE for about 20,000 years. EVERYONE in Special Weapons was REQUIRED to pass this DEM/EOD procedure each year to even be in Special Weapons. In fact, my exceptional performance in this area is what led to me being given the chance to take a more "involved" demolitions course. Man did I LOVE blowing S**T up. I miss that as much as firing the "Big Guns" (and yes, they are GUNS... as in crew served weapons...NOT male body parts like the Drill Sergeant taught all you 11bravos).
If we had PALS and the Authorization, things would get REALLY interesting as the attackers (and ALL of the Special Weapons) disappeared "in a blinding flash of light." This is, of course, the method of "last resort."