But this period of relative detente proved to be short-lived. These included establishing a hotline between Washington DC and Moscow and limiting the number of operational ICBMs.
Happily, sanity prevailed and none were fired.įollowing this crisis, measures were put in place to ease nuclear tensions between the US and the Soviet Union. Each of these weapons on average was tens of times more powerful than the weapons used against Hiroshima. What ensued went into the history books as the Cuban missile crisis – a standoff between the US and Soviet Union, with, between them, 29,700 warheads (the US had 26,400 to the Soviet Union’s 3,300). To level up their deterrent posture, Moscow started to deploy intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Cuba.įlashpoint: CIA map showing the Soviet military presence in Cuba at the time of the 1962 missile crisis.
In the early 1960s, the US had its Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic missiles stationed in Turkey and Italy, which Moscow felt could destroy Russia before it had a chance to retaliate. The dangers of this did not take long to materialise. Mistakes and miscalculationsĭeterrence strategies such as Mad depend on a delicate game of psychological poker, the risk being that your opponent’s reaction might be far beyond what was anticipated. These technologies formed the basis of what became known as mutually assured destruction (Mad), meaning both sides of a potential nuclear conflict have enough firepower to destroy each other and the rest of the world. In addition to BMEWS, Congress also approved the Atlas, Titan and Minuteman ICBM programmes. The satellite demonstrated that the Soviet Union had the capability to place a nuclear weapon on a rocket and strike anywhere on Earth with little warning.Įarly in 1958, in response to Sputnik, the US Congress signed into existence measures that form the foundations of modern strategic nuclear deterrence. Sputnik was the world’s first artificial satellite, launched from the top of the world’s first ICBM, the R-7. BMEWS was built in response to the launch of Sputnik in October 1957. I have spent the past three years building the Fylingdales Archive, which charts the station’s 60-year history of watching the skies for signs of nuclear attack by ICBMs. I am a researcher at RAF Fylingdales a ballistic missile early warning (BMEWS) station on the North York Moors. Vladimir Putin said Sarmat “has no analogues in the world and will not have for a long time to come” and would be “food for thought for those who, in the heat of frenzied aggressive rhetoric, try to threaten our country”. The missile can deliver their payloads onto targets in the US up to 18,000km away. The latest drills follow the unveiling, on April 29, of Russia’s new Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The Iskander has a range of about 300km, so missiles launched from the Kaliningrad region could strike targets in western Ukraine, Poland, the Baltic States and even parts of Germany.
According to a statement by Russia’s ministry of defence, forces of the Baltic Fleet in the Kaliningrad region, conducted training sessions to “deliver mock missile strikes with the crews of the Iskander operational-tactical missile systems”. Russia is reported to have held drills this week simulating “ nuclear-capable strikes”.