In light of the war in Ukraine and North Korea's missile tests, the topic of tactical nuclear weapons and their development is more topical than at any time since the Cold War.
There is no universal definition of such a weapon, and analysts point out that the use of any nuclear device would violate the "nuclear taboo" that has been in place since the United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan in 1945, the only time the weapon was used. in the war.
A non-strategic weapon
Tactical nuclear weapons are often characterized by size, range, or use for limited military objectives. It is often referred to as a "non-strategic weapon" as opposed to a strategic weapon, which the US military defines as being designed to target the "enemy's war-fighting capabilities and will to war," including production, infrastructure, transportation and communications systems, and other targets.
Tactical weapons, on the other hand, are designed to achieve more limited and urgent military objectives. The term is often used to describe a weapon with a lower "yield" or the amount of energy released during the explosion.
Such weapons are usually many times larger than conventional bombs, cause radioactive fallout and other deadly consequences beyond the explosion itself, and there is no agreement on the size that defines a tactical weapon.
Tactical weapons are often mounted on rockets, air-launched bombs, and even artillery shells that have a relatively short range, far less than the huge intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) designed to travel thousands of kilometers and hit targets across the ocean.
However, most of these systems can also deliver strategic nuclear weapons.
Who owns tactical nuclear weapons?
Most of the world's nuclear powers possess so-called low-yield weapons, meaning they are intended for the battlefield.
According to a March report by the US Congressional Research Service, the United States has about 230 pieces of non-strategic nuclear weapons, including about 100 B61 bombs deployed by aircraft in Europe.
In 2018, the Trump administration announced plans for a new low-yield warhead for submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and for a new non-strategic nuclear-tipped cruise missile.
Russia has 1000 to 2000 warheads for non-strategic nuclear weapons in its arsenal, the report said.
North Korea said this Sunday that a recent series of missile tests was designed to simulate an attack on South Korea with tactical nuclear weapons.
Experts believe that if North Korea were to resume nuclear testing, it could include the development of smaller warheads intended for use on the battlefield.
Will they use it?
President Vladimir Putin, who controls the world's largest nuclear power, has repeatedly warned the West that any attack on Russia would provoke a nuclear response.
US President Joe Biden said yesterday that he doubts that Putin will use nuclear weapons, and analysts said that tactical weapons could have limited military use on the vast and scattered battlefields in Ukraine.
Earlier, Biden stressed that even the smallest nuclear weapons can get out of control.
"I don't think there is such a thing as the ability to easily use tactical nuclear weapons without ending up destroying the world," he said last Sunday.
A Russian nuclear attack would change the course of the conflict and almost certainly cause a "physical reaction" from Ukraine and potentially NATO, a senior official of the military alliance said yesterday. Any use of nuclear weapons by Moscow would lead to "unprecedented consequences" for Russia, the official warned.
He added that Moscow uses nuclear threats mainly to dissuade NATO and other countries from directly participating in the war in Ukraine.
North Korea's pursuit of such weapons, meanwhile, could represent a dangerous shift in the way North Korea deploys and plans to use nuclear weapons, analysts said.
It also renewed a debate in South Korea over whether to deploy US tactical nuclear weapons, which were withdrawn from the peninsula in the 1990s, or pursue its own nuclear program.
Translation: N. Bogetić
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