The so -called Dead Hand (translatable as a “dead hand”), according to numerous military experts, would allude to “System 15E601 Perimetr”and with it we mean a sophisticated and potentially dangerous system of autonomous control and launching system of the nuclear arsenal developed bySoviet Union and still in use today by Russian Federation To ensure the persistence and effectiveness of one’s nuclear response if an enemy was able to carry out a precise surprise attack which results in the beheading of the political and military leaders of the country, thus interrupting the normal decision -making chain entrusted to authorize a nuclear counterattack.
What is the “Dead Hand” and how it is composed today: what we know
Although it is operational from 40 yearsthere are still many elements of the “Dead Hand” system that are surrounded by mystery. What we are sure is that it is activated by the interaction of a series of sensors specifically calibrated to find the traces of the nuclear attack in the environment. In the absence of manifest activities by the operational commands, “Dead Hand” proceeds to launch one or more rockets of the type 15p001. The characteristics of the rockets in and of themselves are not known even if most of the sources consider them variants for special uses of Balistic missiles “Mr-Eur-100 Sotka”.
Unlike the original ballistic missiles from which, however, instead of embarking multiple nuclear heads, the 15p001 rockets are equipped with a raised called called “15B99” Which would be united to a powerful electromagnetic wave emitter who have the ability to remotely activate the launch systems of Russian nuclear newspapers. After a certain period of time, that the different sources quantify in an interval between the few hours and a few days, and if there is no record along the chain of command and supervision human intervention aimed at blocking the sequence of steps activation of the components of the “Dead Hand”, then the system passes in full autonomous mode proceeding to a massive launch of the nuclear arsenal towards the pre -established objectives.
Even if, paradoxically, the ratio that undergoes the creation of the “Dead Hand” system would be that of preserve peace Just guaranteeing the Mad, the risk of entrusting an automatic system the ability to trigger the proverbial “apocalypse” should in itself revalue the rules of engagement according to which the nuclear powers issued the guidelines that regulate the use of nuclear weapons.
The doctrine of mutual assured destruction
With the term “Mutual assured destruction” (acronym in English “Mad”) means that theory that underlies the so -called “Balance of terror” which guaranteed that the competition existing between the two superpowers of the Cold War (USA and USSR) and members of the respective military alliances chaired by them, never resulted in a generalized conflict and without restrictions as had happened during the first and Second World War.
An essential element of this doctrine is the existence of a so -called “triad of nuclear weapons of different classes and types” based on the ground, in the sky and the sea that allows you to commit the opponent through an attack strategy (the so -called “First Strike”) or retaliation (the so -called “Second strike”) if the scenario of the “Nuclear war”. The existence of this triad makes the victory in the event of the outbreak of an absolutely impossible nuclear war and, as a consequence, acts by deterrent to a conflict Which would be particularly destructive and most likely would lead to the infection of humanity.
The search for an autonomous launching system of the newspapers
The Mad theory was partially under discussion in the early 1980s when the Soviets realized that the new American ballistic missiles, launched by the ballistic propulsion of nuclear propulsion, UGM-96 Trident I and UGM-133a Trident II (also called “Trident C4” and “Trident D5” respectively) they were much faster and more precise than the previous ones UGM-27 Polaris and Ugm-79 Poseidon. This meant that if a submarine ballistic launches with American nuclear propulsion had managed to approach the Soviet coasts dangerously, he could have launched a surprise attack potentially capable of decapitating Soviet leadership in a few minutes giving it a too scarce notice to launch a retaliation nuclear counterattack.
For this region the Soviets worked hard, between the late 70s and the beginning of the 80s, to the creation of a System of command, control and autonomous launch that could have continued to guarantee the Mad even in the new scenarios. The result of their efforts was the “System 15E601 Perimetr”also known with the nickname of “Dead Hand” (the “dead hand”), which was finally declared operational in January of 1985even if some of its components were not completely ready until 1986. In particular, the communication rockets associated with the “Dead Hand” system were tested a total of 7 times between 1979 and 1986 obtaining 6 fully successful launches and 1 partially.
