- Dead Hand is also known as the perimeter. during the cold war era, the soviet union created an automatic nuclear weapon control system to deter the possibility of a first nuclear strike from the united states of America.
- The dead hand was consist of a computer system that could launch all of the soviet’s nuclear weapons automatically, the time it was activated once.
- According to various reports, Russia’s dead hand is still active and it may be back and it is even deadlier than the previous one. As the Trump administration withdraws the USA from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty.
- Under the INF treaty, both Russian and the USA Was agreed to eliminate the stockpiles of land-based short and medium-range missiles which could be capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.
- This step from the USA government Made Russia Fearful that America will start deploying its nuclear missiles in Europe as it would provide less time to Russia to react after the launch of Nuclear missiles from Europe.
- Perimeter is described by David Hoffman in his book, “The Dead Hand ” within the following way:
- “The higher authority would flip the switch if they feared they were under fire. This was to offer the permission sanction. Duty officers would rush to their deep underground bunkers, the hardened concrete globes, the shariki. If the permission sanction got before time, if there have been seismic evidence of nuclear strikes hitting the bottom, and if all communications were lost, then the duty officers within the bunker could launch the command rockets. If so ordered, the command rockets would zoom across the country, broadcasting the signal launch to the intercontinental ballistic missiles. the large missiles would then fly and perform their retaliatory mission”.
- As the coalition between China and Russia is strengthening these days, it becomes necessary for the USA to have a dead hand system. Because in the cold war era the USA would get much time to react to nuclear strikes from Russia, but now that era is over.
Also Read, India-Russia Relations: Reliable Partners
