Nuclear weapon (Red Alert)

For more uses see: nuclear weapon.

A Soviet ICBM prepares for launch.

Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that release energies from the fissioning and/or fusing of atomic nuclei. They are far superior in destructive power to conventional explosives on a per mass basis... and is such the most controversial weapon in terms of damage and its fallout after-effects.

Nuclear weapons first became operational with Soviet forces during the Second World War. By the Third World War both the United States of America and the Soviet Union deployed nuclear-armed ballistic missiles. However, Soviet mind-control technology caused the US nuclear missile system to be sabotaged. This allowed the USSR to be the only beligerant in the war to use nuclear missiles.

Anatoly Cherdenko's temporal manipulation by erasing Albert Einstein in 1927 had the unfortunate (or perhaps fortunate) side-effect of undoing development of nuclear weapons, and none were operational by the third iteration of the Third World War.

History

Second World War

The Dark Horseman

The Soviet nuclear program was discovered by Allied intelligence late in the war, just as the warheads were about to become operational. By this time the Soviets were prepared to deploy warheads strategically and tactically with ballistic missiles. Major Vladimir Kosygin, a key Soviet nuclear strategist, defected to the Allies; he confirmed the Dark Horseman facility as the Soviets primary missile production site, and that to his knowledge four 2-kiloton warheads were in production. Kosygin's information was already out of date; the major believed there was still time before any nuclear-armed missiles became operational. A broadcasted speech by Joseph Stalin showed the contrary was true. An Allied ground assault on the facility led by Field Commander A9 attempted to destroy the missile factory and prevent any launches.

The Soviets did not wait for the assault to reach the Dark Horseman's missile silos before firing four missiles. Within 30 minutes they would reach European cities, including London and Paris. Allied troops occupied the base's command center and remotely disabled the warheads before impact.

Intelligence retrieved from the Dark Horseman showed the four missiles were the only ones ready to launch at the time.

Soviet Proliferation

The defeat at the Dark Horseman did not stop Soviet nuclear deployment. The Allies found nuclear missiles deployed at the Iron Curtain development facility and at Moscow.; these missiles were targeted at Allied forces advancing on those locations.

The Allies mounted numerous operations to impede the Soviet nuclear weapons program. The Soviets developed nuclear torpedoes to equip the Advanced Tactical Submarine (ATS); the Allies attempt to destroy the submarines' test facility was foiled. Ultimately the ATS never entered widespread service. Prior to the Battle of Moscow a Soviet atomic processing facility in Siberia was destroyed.

The Soviets transported nuclear material and warheads by trucks. Some were used as mobile nuclear demolition charges.

Allied Proliferation

The Allies developed their own nuclear weapons. They also adopted demolition trucks. Another deployment scheme involved using an aircraft, based on stolen MiG data, to drop nuclear payloads. The Soviets destroyed the test facility and the prototype.

Third World War (first iteration)

The United States deployed silo-based nuclear missiles after the Second World War. President Michael Dugan ordered a retaliatory strike on the USSR at the beginning of the Third World War. This failed when Yuri's psychically influenced US duty officers to interrupt the launch; the silo doors remained close and three such missiles were destroyed as they launched. The Soviets were once again major employers of nuclear weapons both for strategic purposes and for direct battlefield use.

Nuclear attack on Chicago.

The threat of nuclear retaliation initially deterred the Europeans from entering the war. In return for the destruction of nuclear missile silos on the Soviet-Polish border, the Europeans agreed to aid the United States. The destruction of Chicago by Soviet nuclear weapons gave the Europeans the impetus needed to bargain with the United States.

A significant Soviet silo complex was built in Cuba. This was neutralized late in the war to allow the Chronosphere to be built in the Florida Keys. The Chronosphere was then used to invade Moscow and end the war. Prism tanks destroyed a nuclear missile preparing to launch in Moscow as the Allies stormed the city.

Within the World Socialist Alliance, the Libyans deployed a Demolition Truck carrying a small nuclear bomb.

Soviet Alternate History

Template:RA2SovietCampThe Soviets won the last battle of the War by destroying the Allied Chronosphere in Alaska with one final well-placed nuclear missile strike.

Post-War Crisis

In Red Alert Mobile, the Nuclear missile can be used if a Soviet Battle Lab is constructed.

World War III (third iteration)

“

Krukov: We must unleash our nuclear weapons! Annihilate them all! Dasha Fedorovich: Excuse me, general? Krukov: Our Nuclear weapons? Our atomic bombs? Zelinsky: Don't you understand?! Without Einstein, there is no nuclear weapons because we altered the space-time continuum! Who knows what nightmares had been created... - Krukov, Dasha and Dr. Zelinsky(src)

”

Anatoly Cherdenko's temporal manipulation by erasing Albert Einstein in 1927 had quite an unfortunate side-effect that stripped the Soviet Union of its ultimate weapons: without Einstein's theory of the atom, development of nuclear weapons were effectively non-existent, and none were operational by the third iteration of the Third World War, forcing the Soviets to resort to alternatives such as the Vacuum Imploder.
However, the Soviet Union did reinvent nuclear weaponry at some point from scratch during the War of the Three Powers - even without Einstein's scientific experience. Several 50-megaton devices were reported to be assembled and loaded on Kirov-class airships to be delivered to Allied city-centers to wipe them out.

Soviet Alternate History

Template:RA3SovietCamp In War of the Three Powers, the Vacuum Imploder was used by Anatoly Cherdenko on Easter Islands to kill his player and Zhana Agonskaya after Field Marshall Bingham's treaty had failed. The superweapon unleashes devastation on enemy forces and structures like a vacuum cleaner. It was later used by the Commander in New York against Ackerman at Fort Bradley and the Statue of Liberty. In the Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3: Uprising, the Vacuum Imploder put down Rupert Thornley's forces in Mexico and Sigma Island which destroyed the Sigma Harmonizer. It's presumed the weapon was used in Siberia, but also the Allied and Imperial campaigns in Leningrad and Moscow. The Imperials destroyed one at Vladivostok planning to vacuum the Commander's forces.

Without Einstein, nuclear weapons weren't used by the Soviets, but one question was to why they did during an escaping operation from a famed Allied Commander and Giles Price at Havana, using nuclear megaton devices to escape Cuba and putting it against Allied cities like Washington DC, New York, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin and Sydney.

Trivia

In Red Alert 2 Soviet nuclear missile looks practically identical to the real-life Soviet R-7 "Semyorka"  (NATO reporting name SS-6 Sapwood) missile developed in the 1950s, and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile ever built, also its modified form launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, into orbit.

Gallery

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  Red Alert 2 Nuke animation

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  Red Alert 2 Nuke attack icon with Chinese text

Videos

Cinematic of nuke attack in Red Alert 1

Mission fail cinematic of mission Evidence, showing Paris nuked by the Soviets

See also

• Nuclear weapon (wikipedia)