nuclear deterrent
Mutually assured destruction
A nuclear deterrent is a nation's arsenal of nuclear weapons maintained to discourage attack—the threat of catastrophic retaliation makes aggression too costly.
The strategy assumes rational actors who won't risk mutual destruction: France maintains an independent nuclear deterrent.
During the Cold War, the nuclear deterrent of both superpowers created a tense but stable standoff.
- mutually assured destructionReciprocal nuclear annihilation threat
- armamentCollective military weapons
- bombExplosive device or disaster
- dead handPosthumous control over property
- atomic bombFission-triggered mass destruction device
warheads · submarines · missile · Cold War · ballistic missile · ICBM · military doctrine · second strike · thermonuclear weapon · doomsday weapon · strategic arms · missile defense · strategic command · MAD · balance of terror · trident · brinkmanship · push the button
- Soviet EraUSSR, Soviet Union, Soviet rule, CCCP, Eastern Bloc
- Anglo-American Relationsspecial relationship, Five Eyes, NATO alliance, Lend-Lease, intelligence sharing
- military defenseair defense, missile defense, coastal defense, homeland defense, radar station
- military readinessreadiness, mobilization, deployment, drills, training
- nuclear weaponsatomic bomb, atom bomb, warheads, hydrogen bomb, a-bomb
- Nuclear Submarinesboomer, Trident missile, ballistic missile
nuclear deterrentfirst strike
Initiating combat unprovoked
nuclear war · unprovoked attack · warmongering · nuclear brinkmanship · acts of war
nuclear deterrentconventional weapons
Non-WMD military equipment
conventional forces · conventional weapon · small arms · tactical weapons · infantry
nuclear deterrentnuclear disarmament
Reducing atomic weapon stockpiles
disarmament · denuclearization · diplomacy · disarmament talks · soft power
nuclear, deterrent, nucleus, nuclei, nucleic, nucleotide, nucleolus, deter, deterrence