Russia’s CRAZY Nuclear Strategy, The Dead Hand System | Cold War & Nuclear Danger | Annie Jacobsen

[jonathanabgrall]

The more i hear about the cold war the more im amazed i got to be born.

[yurangudo]

“If we lose, no one wins”

Crazy to think this is still why we’re alive today

[srdjanm]

That system is still active, just upgraded. It actually includes the "Perimeter" system as well. Perimeter detects nuclear strike and activates the "Dead hand". It launches cruise missiles which carry the launch signal to all leftover nukes.

[mamunhabib]

Putin very recently said the same thing,
THERE'S NO NEED FOR A WORLD WITHOUT RUSSIA.
Coldest line said by any leader ever.

[funzuno]

Russia wasn't paranoid.
Russia knew USA very well.

[ayirikolawole]

US : Cant launch if you're dead
USSR : Bet

[AApyrofreak]

"Russia was paranoid"
-This lady.

"What's that thing falling from the sky?"
-Some dude in Japan 1945

[jesusportillo]

Would be a shame if the sensors started glitching 💀

[patcollins]

It is not paranoid, it is a logical detering strategy.

[vivekvs]

That's Russia being practical, not paranoid

[abhrodipsingharoy]

Russia was paranoid
Japan: Good thing you learnt russia

[HippieInHeart]

I mean, that's actually just smart. Like, how are you gonna defend against a preemptive suprise attack? By making sure that you can still shoot back and defend yourself even after you're dead.

[Muroabdje]

Not paranoid, exactly this prevented any nuclear strike!

[alexgor]

I did my military service on Dead Hand. I would not have believed in its existence had I not seen it with my own eyes.
What does it look like, you may ask?
Endless tunnels in a mountain that have turned into antennas. This makes the whole mountain one giant transmitter. And it is only one component of this monstrous system.

[indeedinteresting]

Fun Fact:

In the commercial maritime world, there is a ship system in the engine room called "Dead Man Alarm."

What this system does is, it is activated when an engine room crew member goes down to the engine room for a routine inspection. Every number of minutes, it is pressed again to "reset" the timer.

If it is not pressed within that time interval, it will alarm the other engine crew members, and eventually the whole ship. This means that something bad happened to the crew member who went down first.

It is quite similar to this Dead Hand System.

[michaelidarecis]

Sounds like a great plan. US was paranoid after hearing that

[SamU-npbv]

This move probably saved mankind from Nuclear annihilation

[MetaMaticGamer]

I think the scariest part of the cold war was the fact both sides had system malfunctions that nearly made people commit to the launch. Thankfully the people in charge didn't follow through with the false alarms and we managed to live to this day.

[omarsameh]

Fun fact: a bear once triggered that, but, thankfully, they stopped the launches

[arshaadcreighton]

Well they smart enough to ensure USA never plays dirty