Who do you drop a nuclear bunker buster on?

"Henry J Cobb" wrote
Jim Yanik wrote:
Deep-Buried command and control centers,WMD manufacturing/storage
facilities.(bio-chem,not solely nuclear)

How would you know which tunnels to nuke?

http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/ne...rk-tunnels.htm
Even if the Pentagon were to develop nuclear "bunker-busters" --
relatively small bombs that penetrate the surface before exploding --
the United States would be hard-pressed to use them successfully
without knowing which of the thousands of bunkers scattered throughout
the country were the correct targets.

More to the point, how do you know_where_the bunker is. A few years ago,
AvWeek had a brief note that Swedish and German companies sold hard-rock
boring equipment that could cut a 20 foot shaft at the rate of 200 feet a
day. It doesn't take many months before for the circle of uncertainty
starting from where the bore hole starts gets beyond the lethal distance of
_any_ bunker buster, nuclear or not.

The cratering radius of a 300KT (B-61) nuclear explosion in rock is about
900 feet. If the bunker is more than 10X that distance (45 days drilling), a
maximum yeild explosion is unlikely to collapse the bunker.

Without very good HUMINT indeed, you aren't going to know the location of
the target with enough precision to kill it.

On Wed, 2 Jun 2004 20:25:32 -0400, "Paul F Austin"
wrote:


The cratering radius of a 300KT (B-61) nuclear explosion in rock is about
900 feet. If the bunker is more than 10X that distance (45 days drilling), a
maximum yeild explosion is unlikely to collapse the bunker.

Still, even if the bunker survived, how exactly would the occupants
exit, if the entrance hole (or holes) no longer exist?


Take Care,
James Lerch
http://lerch.no-ip.com/atm (My telescope construction, Testing, and Coating site)

Press on: nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
Calvin Coolidge

"James Lerch" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 2 Jun 2004 20:25:32 -0400, "Paul F Austin"
wrote:


The cratering radius of a 300KT (B-61) nuclear explosion in rock is about
900 feet. If the bunker is more than 10X that distance (45 days
drilling), a
maximum yeild explosion is unlikely to collapse the bunker.

Still, even if the bunker survived, how exactly would the occupants
exit, if the entrance hole (or holes) no longer exist?

That's a decent point although connecting to other exits e.g. railway
tunnels or basements of existing buildings. isn't impossible.