In article ,
Greg Hennessy wrote:

On 25 Feb 2004 08:31:03 -0800, (John Schilling)
wrote:


Wouldn't a deployed Tsar Bomba carrier have been a militarized Proton,
aka UR-500 aka 8K82? The space launch version uses only storable
propellants, can put twenty tons into low orbit with the smallest
fairing easily holding a 2 x 8 meter payload, and my references on
the space launch side claim that it was developed with the ICBM role
and the Tsar Bomba payload in mind from the start (1961).

The airburst footprint of 100MT delivered that way would indeed be scary.
Hadnt realised that an ICBM was a viable delivery platform for it.

Weapons effects from:
http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Science/Nuke.html

100 MT 1 MT 100 KT

77.1 km 11.7 km 4.5 km Thermal radiation radius (3rd degree burns)
33 km 7.2 km 3.4 km Air blast radius (widespread destruction)
12.5 km 2.7 km 1.3 km Air blast radius (near-total fatalities)
7.5 km 3.1 km 2.0 km Ionizing radiation radius (500 rem)
35.7 sec 4.5 sec 1.6 sec Fireball duration
2.7 km 430 m 170 m Fireball radius (minimum)
3.3 km 530 m 210 m Fireball radius (airburst)
4.4 km 700 m 280 m Fireball radius (ground-contact airburst)

Of course, with that same payload, you could put up a couple of dozen 1
MT bombs of the same vintage.

Looking at effective destruction, you only get:

100 MT 1 MT 100 KT
3421 km^2 163 km^2 64 km^2

21 times the "widespread destruction" area, for 100 times the power,
when comparing the 100 MT versus a 1 MT, and 53 times the effect for
*1000* times the power of a standard-issue 100 KT weapon.

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