Could a surprise nuclear attack on the US by the North Koreans completely wipe out the country's nuclear defenses?

Our nuclear defenses are not our nuclear weapons. Does that resolve your question?

And, other than a local tragedy in the event of a successful North Korean attack, the USA would be fine.

I just read an interesting oral history on 9/11 titled "The Only Plane In The Sky" and it did not give me much confidence in our ability to handle attacks on our soil. I think we'd be fine if NK launched Nukes our way from NK, but if they figured out a way to infiltrate our own program to attack from within, we'd be in trouble. That said, my guess is that our intra-continental defense has improved greatly since 2001.

abbey shunshine wrote:

They would of course still have their nuclear defenses but if North Korea was to strike the major nuclear defenses of the US, how debilitating would that be for the United States? Would the US be able to respond with force or would they just have to acknowledge defeat and lick their wounds?

I believe the silos we have can withstand a nuclear an attack and we have submarines with nuclear weapons. We used to have planes armed with nukes in the air at all times and even if we dont anymore, they could be sent from overseas bases. There will also be enough time from the launch detection to send about 1,000 their way from the mainland.

abbey shunshine wrote:

They would of course still have their nuclear defenses but if North Korea was to strike the major nuclear defenses of the US, how debilitating would that be for the United States? Would the US be able to respond with force or would they just have to acknowledge defeat and lick their wounds?

You can bet there are nuclear carrying subs within range of NK at all times.

No. North Korean Nuclear Technology is about 70 years behind US military technology. The greatest threat from North Korea is to South Korea and Japan. They just use it for Saber rattling to get more food aid.

abbey shunshine wrote:

They would of course still have their nuclear defenses but if North Korea was to strike the major nuclear defenses of the US, how debilitating would that be for the United States? Would the US be able to respond with force or would they just have to acknowledge defeat and lick their wounds?

North Korea. Do not give that little nut too much credit. Do not frighten yourself with such thoughts.

Were any of you alive with fresh memories of Cold War? In order to prevent U.S. from getting wiped out by a quick strike, Some B-52s were always in the air with nuclear weapons. Both Soviets and U.S. had subs with nuclear weapons (still do). Do you recall movie, Hunt for Red October? There have been strange "Fatal Accidents" suffered by both Soviet subs and U.S. subs during Cold War. Rumors were stated: If an enemy nuclear sub with nuclear weapons, is discovered, take out the sub. There used to be nuclear war heads on trains crossing U.S. Nuclear weapons used to be in convoys going up and down I-5, I-95. There is no way to easily take out U.S. nuclear weapons. A good portion are always on the move.

During Cold War ... wrote:

Were any of you alive with fresh memories of Cold War? In order to prevent U.S. from getting wiped out by a quick strike, Some B-52s were always in the air with nuclear weapons. Both Soviets and U.S. had subs with nuclear weapons (still do).

During the Cold War neither side had the capability to take out the other's weapons systems so both sides reverted to MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) and a second strike policy. Targeting the opponents missile silos, command centers, radar systems etc meant you would have to strike first and unless you were 100% successful you would face retaliation. There would be no point in the retaliation targeting missile sites etc as the missiles will already have been launched so you targeted the population centers instead. We survived the Cold War as both sides adopted a second strike retaliation position. It wasn't fun knowing the city you lived in almost certainly had a nuclear missile aimed at it but at least you knew they wouldn't fire theirs unless we fired first.

It's highly improbable that North Korea would ever adopt a first strike policy as it would ensure their destruction. But as approximately 48 million people live on the west coast of the USA they are close to developing a worrying second strike capability.

If NK launched anything nuclear toward the U.S. which actually impacted our soil, they would cease to exist within an hour or two. Their rockets currently don’t have the range to reach us, and they don’t have the accuracy or number of warheads to decapitate our land based nuclear assets even if they improve their range. Then there are still submarines, aircraft carriers, guided missile cruisers, bombers based at places like Diego Garcia, etc which they have no hope of eliminating and which would also rain down the megatons.

NoKo would be lucky if they didn’t bomb themselves on accident. Good thing they are so far away. Like a child with a pistol. Japan should make them their bitc# like they did back in the day.

Japan was more fun back when they had some swag. They are soft now. So soft.

T. Clancy wrote:

If NK launched anything nuclear toward the U.S. which actually impacted our soil, they would cease to exist within an hour or two.

How? Not even neocon dreamer Tom Clancy would imagine Washington having enough ICBM's targeting DPRK to carpet-nuke the whole country within two hours, or that they would actually do it considering the fallout to the US and China - and potential retaliation from the latter.

Their rockets currently don’t have the range to reach us

They have launched satellites into orbit, genius. That means they have rockets that can put a warhead anywhere.

"fallout to US and China" meaning "fallout to South Korea and China."

You can't hug your children with nuclear arms!

DISARM NOW!!! wrote:

You can't hug your children with nuclear arms!

LOL

To the OP - the answer is yes but it would have to be a really, REALLY surprising nuclear attack. Like, the North Koreans themselves would also be shocked, given how completely implausible it is

Bad Wigins wrote:

T. Clancy wrote:

If NK launched anything nuclear toward the U.S. which actually impacted our soil, they would cease to exist within an hour or two.

How? Not even neocon dreamer Tom Clancy would imagine Washington having enough ICBM's targeting DPRK to carpet-nuke the whole country within two hours, or that they would actually do it considering the fallout to the US and China - and potential retaliation from the latter.

Their rockets currently don’t have the range to reach us

They have launched satellites into orbit, genius. That means they have rockets that can put a warhead anywhere.

You shouldn’t comment on matters you know nothing about. The ability to launch something into orbit doesn’t automatically mean they can launch a multi-ton nuclear warhead “anywhere”. Even we do not have the ability to hit anyplace on the globe from the U.S. And no, they cannot yet reach the U.S. But go ahead and keep showing your “genius”.

The OP needs to read more post-apocalypse thrillers. No nation is likely to attack us directly. The most likely scenarios are nukes smuggled into ports or over the border to disrupt our electrical grid or set off an EMP pulse. With no electricity, society collapses in days.

The sobering part of this fiction is that our electrical grid is vulnerable to attack.

China is the one to worry about. With any luck, North Korea will implode from within, but they are still a dangerous rogue state.

T.M.A.D.D.D.H.A.S.F.N.E.

.Trump2020OP-the real one....... wrote:

China is the one to worry about. With any luck, North Korea will implode from within, but they are still a dangerous rogue state.

T.M.A.D.D.D.H.A.S.F.N.E.

Why did U.S. not prevail while fighting Korean Conflict? U.S. did not leave the pleasant borders of U.S. of A. for a 38th latitude cease fire. U.S. were fighting People Republic of China during Korean Conflict. China wants and has wanted a buffer. An uncle of mine who was a veteran of that fight died a half a dozen years ago. Most vets of Korean Conflict are deceased. There are not that many vets alive to tell everyone that is not a fight we want.

Chief NK Rocket Engineer Bad Wigins is not a genius wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

How? Not even neocon dreamer Tom Clancy would imagine Washington having enough ICBM's targeting DPRK to carpet-nuke the whole country within two hours, or that they would actually do it considering the fallout to the US and China - and potential retaliation from the latter.

They have launched satellites into orbit, genius. That means they have rockets that can put a warhead anywhere.

You shouldn’t comment on matters you know nothing about. The ability to launch something into orbit doesn’t automatically mean they can launch a multi-ton nuclear warhead “anywhere”. Even we do not have the ability to hit anyplace on the globe from the U.S. And no, they cannot yet reach the U.S. But go ahead and keep showing your “genius”.

Good comeback, almost hides the fact you had no idea they launched a satellite.

They have the rocket tech to hit the US if they want. Getting their warheads down to size - which they also have the tech to do since they've figured out the plutonium bomb - is the only remaining step, not improving the rockets. For all anyone knows, they may have already completed it.

T. Clancy wrote:

If NK launched anything nuclear toward the U.S. which actually impacted our soil, they would cease to exist within an hour or two. Their rockets currently don’t have the range to reach us, and they don’t have the accuracy or number of warheads to decapitate our land based nuclear assets even if they improve their range. Then there are still submarines, aircraft carriers, guided missile cruisers, bombers based at places like Diego Garcia, etc which they have no hope of eliminating and which would also rain down the megatons.

Some of you here worry too much.

The U.S. Navy has the state-of-the-art Aegis BMD system against North Korea's short to medium-range BMs. For the NK's long-range multi-stage ICBMs, the U.S has the futeristic GMD system that will stop anything they would throw at us in it's tracks:

No worries - the U.S. hasn't spent trillions of dollars on defense for nothing. We're the modern day Roman Empire...militarily speaking - no one is going to mess with us!