Russia's Nuclear Retaliation System Without Human Intervention

The Perimeter system could automatically order retaliatory nuclear missile launches in the event of a preemptive strike on Russia and its top leaders being killed.

Russian RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile. Photo: Wikicommons

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union designed a nuclear command system called Perimeter, dubbed Dead Hand by the US, that allowed Moscow to launch a nuclear counterattack even if the command communication lines of its strategic missile forces were destroyed, according to RBTH.

Normally, the control and command of the Soviet Kazbek strategic missile force was carried out through the famous Cheget nuclear suitcase. However, the disadvantage of this method was that it still required the order of the supreme commander.

At the height of the Cold War, fearing a preemptive nuclear strike from the United States, the Soviet leadership demanded the development of a new command system to ensure retaliation would still be possible in the event of the country's entire top political and military leadership being killed.

Initially, Soviet scientists used data backups to ensure that control commands would reach every launch crew. Then they came up with the idea of ​​using ballistic missiles equipped with powerful radio transmitters to act as a communications link to nuclear weapons launchers.

On August 30, 1974, Soviet secret decree No. 695-227 assigned the Dnepropetrovsk Design Bureau, an intercontinental missile manufacturing complex, the task of designing the Perimeter nuclear counterattack system.

The UR-100UTTKh ballistic missile (NATO reporting name Spanker) is at the heart of this system.Instead of flying straight to the enemy target, ballistic missiles are equipped withtransmission systemwill fly over the Soviet Union, sending launch commands to all missiles placed in underground silos, aircraft, warships, and ground launchers.The system operates fully automatically, the human element is almost eliminated.

Test launches showed that all components of the Perimeter system successfully interacted with each other, and the launch signal warhead mounted on the missile always flew on the intended trajectory.

By November 1984, the missileUR-100UTTKh carries a signal warheadwas launched from Polotsk and directed to an RS-20 (SS-18 Satan) ballistic missile silo at Baikonur. The RS-20 was launched and hit its target at the Kura test range, on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

In January 1985, Perimeter was officially incorporated into the Soviet strategic nuclear deterrent force.

A Russian strategic nuclear ballistic missile silo. Photo: RBTH

No human intervention required

The decision to launch a missile is made by an automated control system developed on the basis of complex artificial intelligence. The system receives and analyzes all information about seismic activity, radiation concentration, atmospheric pressure and military radio frequency concentration.

When a location with strong ionization and electromagnetic radiation is detected, the system will compare it with the seismic data of the same area to determine whether a massive nuclear attack on the Soviet Union is likely. If so, the "Death Hand" will automatically initiate a response.

In case the Soviet top leadership received information from the early warning system that another country had launched a missile at this country, "Death Hand" was also activated at the alert stage. If"Hand of Death"If the alarm is not canceled within a certain time, the missile will be launched.

This would eliminate the human element and ensure a nuclear retaliation even if the missile control and launch teams were completely destroyed.

During peacetime, Perimeter continuously analyzes incoming information. When the system is placed on high alert, or when signals are received from early warning systems, strategic forces, or other systems, a network of surveillance sensors is activated to detect signs of a nuclear explosion.

To ensure that an uncontrolled launch does not occur, Perimeter will check four conditions before launching: Whether a nuclear attack has just occurred, based on analysis of the parameters. If this possibility appears to have occurred, the system will check to see if any communication systems are still connected to the General Staff.

If the military headquarters maintains contact, the Perimeter system will automatically shut down. If the General Staff does not respond, Perimeter will send a request to the commander.strategic missile forceKazbek. If it continues to receive no response from Kazbek, the control system will give any commander in the nuclear missile silo the right to make a decision. Only when it receives no further orders will it begin the actual response sequence.

To this day, the Perimeter system is regularly upgraded by Russia to ensure its nuclear retaliation capability. "If we are hit by a nuclear attack, even at lightning speed, under any conditions, we will be able to ensure a counterattack," General Andrey Burbin, commander of the Central Command of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, asserted last year.

According to VNE