North Korea attempts but fails to launch missile: South Korea

Re:North Korea attempts but fails to launch missile: South K... by jeffdavis on Sunday April 16, 2017 @01:47AM (#14124552)

Why do you say that? Missing with a nuke seems like a major failure and unlikely to have the intended effect.

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Re:North Korea attempts but fails to launch missile: South K... by tyingq on Sunday April 16, 2017 @01:53AM (#14124569)

Blast radius + fallout radius. Either you want it as a terror weapon, and pinpoint accuracy isn't needed. Or you want it as a mutually assured destruction deterrent, and you only need so much accuracy to be credible.

Fallout radius for a 15 megaton blast, superimposed on the north eastern US. Anything with numbers (roentgens) above ~500 is fatal, though less than that isn't harmless either: http://nikealaska.org/nuke/CasBravM.gif Much, much bigger than what the DPRK has tested, but the principal is the same. Low tech SCUD level accuracy is fine.

The Nagasaki bomb missed by 3km. It was similar in size to what the DPRK has tested.

And quantity makes up for quality.

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