Is Russia's Doomsday Bomb Still Operational?

Posted by Queuebot in Weapons & War on September 25, 2009 at 10:41 pm


Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin wall, we still don’t know if Russia’s doomsday weapon is still operational.  It’s a bit of a worry, because the weapon, code name The Dead Hand, is 50,000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima:

As far as anyone knows, the Dead Hand remains operational. What is truly worrying, even today, is the secrecy that continues to surround the whole subject. Thompson has found that neither George Schultz nor former CIA director James Woolsey had heard of the Dead Hand system. Former Soviet era officials will still not discuss it. One who dared to talk died in mysterious circumstances. Such secrecy is, as Dr Strangelove realised, disastrous: ‘Yes, but the…whole point of the doomsday machine…is lost…if you keep it a secret! Why didn’t you tell the world, eh?’

The doomsday machine is supposed to be the ultimate deterrent. But if no one knows that the deterrent exists… Well, you’ve all seen the final scenes of Dr Strangelove.

Link – via markarayner

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by drtundra.


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COMMENT

19 comments to "Is Russia's Doomsday Bomb Still Operational?"

  1. Johnny Cat
    September 25th, 2009 at 11:57 pm

    I wonder why we haven't heard of this threat before. Interesting.

  2. Ali S.
    September 26th, 2009 at 12:36 am

    A deterrent that nobody knows of? Makes me kind of suspicious but then again the Soviets weren't exactly the type of folks who thought things out and the consequences of their actions.

    Might I add: Fire ze missiles!

  3. Larfin Jackarse
    September 26th, 2009 at 2:37 am

    Totally automatic 'ey? Can destroy humanity 'ey?

    Well lets hope there is no such thing as Czarnet.

  4. 4thirty
    September 26th, 2009 at 6:37 am

    the dead hand isnt a bomb. its a system that would automaticly fire their warheads incase they were attacked first.

  5. Grease Monkey
    September 26th, 2009 at 7:30 am

    The Dead Hand could have been FUD created by the Soviets to make the west fear them. Or it may have been FUD created by the west in order to make it's own people fear the soviet bloc and thus support their own government's war mongering. Either way it never existed.

    The idea that the soviets had technology decades ago that the west still don't have today is frankly ridiculous.

  6. FishBottleT
    September 26th, 2009 at 7:44 am

    scary stuff

  7. ted
    September 26th, 2009 at 8:13 am

    It's like Saddam's WMDs. It's all smoke and mirrors. I agree with Grease Monkey - FUD.

  8. Justin
    September 26th, 2009 at 9:18 am

    FUD: Fear Uncertainty and Doubt. (ya I googled it!)

  9. C.S. Magor
    September 26th, 2009 at 10:12 am

    Like 4thirty said, it isn't a bomb, it is a system and a smart one, designed to let cooler heads prevail in times of crisis. In the event of nuclear attack, authority to launch is passed to whomever is on standby in the system. If Russia gets wiped out, they get vengeance.

    In theory it could save a false alarm from causing a nuclear holocaust.

  10. mu
    September 26th, 2009 at 10:37 am

    What's the point of having the most powerful weapon if you don't tell anyone about it?
    -- Dr. Strangelove

  11. blahh
    September 26th, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    It wasn't a weapon it was an automatic retaliation system if they where attacked first.....

  12. Kalel
    September 26th, 2009 at 1:38 pm

    This from the nation that created the Lada.

  13. Eli
    September 26th, 2009 at 2:57 pm

    Have you seen the state of Russia's entire military machine lately? Most of their planes are grounded for lack of maintenance and parts, the bulk of their fleet of surface ships and submarines are rusting in harbors or abandoned, scuttled or scrapped, and there's no reason to believe that this system, assuming that it ever existed, would be in any better shape.
    Here's an example of what is now left of one of their bases: http://englishrussia.com/?p=1910#more-1910

    Need I say more?

  14. ted
    September 26th, 2009 at 5:04 pm

    Justin, at least you didn't find the definition Female Urinary Device. That might have given you even more uncertainty.

  15. ernest
    September 26th, 2009 at 9:33 pm

    peace through hippies

  16. Masha
    September 27th, 2009 at 3:33 am

    As a Russian who actually knows about the crappy state of the government, the bureaucracy, and the lack of money, I find this panickiness about Russians having horrible weapons and evilly planning to use them someday hilarious.

  17. Anon of Ibid
    September 27th, 2009 at 6:03 am

    Wouldn't trying to turn it off actually trigger it?

  18. seefish3
    September 28th, 2009 at 4:13 am

    So yopur saying this isn't propaganda, like Reagan's "Star Wars" foolishness?

  19. Shurik
    September 29th, 2009 at 12:37 am

    Eli, while I am happy you read Englishrussia, it is very funny blog sometimes, you cannot honestly get your facts from there. A bunch of old migs and T34s, I don't think the reason they are grounded is because of a lack of parts, it has something to do with them being 50 years old.


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