Nuclear Utilization Target Selection - NUTS and US Nuclear Strategy

NUTS and US Nuclear Strategy

NUTS theory can be seen in the US adoption of a number of first strike weapons, such as the Trident II and Minuteman III nuclear missiles, which both have an extremely low circular error probable (CEP) of about 90 meters for the former and 120 meters for the latter. These weapons are accurate enough to almost certainly destroy a missile silo if it is targeted.

Additionally, the US has proceeded with a number of programs which improve its strategic situation in a nuclear confrontation. The Stealth Bomber has the capacity to carry a large number of stealthy cruise missiles, which could be nuclear tipped, and due to its low probability of detection and long range would be an excellent weapon with which to deliver a first strike.

During the late 1970s and the 1980s, the Pentagon began to adopt strategies for limited nuclear options to make it possible to control escalation and reduce the risk of all-out nuclear war. The Soviets, however, were skeptical of limited options or the possibility of controlling escalation. While Soviet deterrence doctrine posited massive responses to any nuclear use ("all against any"), military officials considered the possibility of proportionate responses to a limited U.S. attack, although they "doubted that nuclear war could remain limited for long."

Like several other nuclear powers, but unlike China, India and North Korea, the United States has never made a no first use pledge, maintaining that pledging not to use nuclear weapons before an opponent would undermine their deterrent. NATO plans for war with the USSR called for the use of tactical nuclear weapons in order to counter Soviet numerical superiority.

Rather than making extensive preparations for battlefield nuclear combat in Central Europe, the Soviet General Staff emphasized conventional military operations and believing that they had an advantage there. "The Soviet military leadership believed that conventional superiority provided the Warsaw Pact with the means to approximate the effects of nuclear weapons and achieve victory in Europe without resort to those weapons."