Topic

Military Technology & Strategy

A collection of 30 issues

The Terrifying Sanity of Being MAD

The world's most catastrophic weapons were designed with a single purpose: to never be used. This is the chilling logic of Mutually Assured Destruction, a strategy where the only way to prevent global war is to guarantee that any aggressor faces total annihilation.

History Military Technology & Strategy Politics & Power

An Atomic Cure: The Astonishingly Real Cold War Plan to Nuke Hurricanes

It sounds like pulp science fiction, but during the Cold War, U.S. scientists had a real plan to stop hurricanes with nuclear bombs, an idea scrapped only after they calculated it would create a radioactive disaster of unprecedented scale.

History Science & Nature Military Technology & Strategy

The Day the Sky Burned: The Terrifying, Unintended Consequences of Starfish Prime

In 1962, the U.S. detonated a nuclear bomb in space, creating a spectacular artificial aurora. But the test's unforeseen electromagnetic pulse and a newly-formed, deadly radiation belt revealed a terrifying new threat, forcing superpowers to rethink the arms race.

History Military Technology & Strategy Space & Astronomy

The Time America Accidentally Dropped a Nuclear Bomb on a Family's Backyard

On March 11, 1958, a simple mistake aboard a B-47 bomber sent a 7,600-pound atomic bomb plummeting into a South Carolina family's garden, leaving a chilling, crater-sized reminder of the Cold War's ever-present, and sometimes clumsy, peril.

History Military Technology & Strategy Oddities & Curiosities

The 38-Microsecond Legacy: How a Cold War Tragedy Made Einstein's Relativity a Global Utility

Born from a secretive military project, GPS was released to the public only after a tragic Cold War navigational error cost 269 lives. Its astonishing accuracy now hinges on constantly correcting for Einstein's theories, without which your location would drift by kilometers every day.

History Technology & Innovation Military Technology & Strategy

The One-Way Ticket: America's Secret Plan for Soldier-Carried Nuclear Bombs

During the Cold War, elite U.S. soldiers trained for a secret, one-way mission: infiltrate enemy lines with a backpack-sized nuclear bomb. Their task was to destroy key targets and halt a Soviet invasion, knowing they would almost certainly never make it home.

Military Technology & Strategy History Wars, Conflict & Heroes

The Day the Sun Nearly Started World War III

In 1967, a solar flare jammed US nuclear warning radars, leading commanders to prepare for war with the Soviets. The world was saved not by diplomats, but by a handful of scientists who realized the sun, not an enemy, was the aggressor.

History Military Technology & Strategy Space & Astronomy

When the Pentagon Declared War on the Weather

In a secret Cold War chapter, the U.S. government's attempt to weaponize weather began with a seeded hurricane that veered off course and slammed into Georgia, a spectacular failure that foretold the ultimate limits of playing God with the sky.

History Military Technology & Strategy Science & Nature

The Bomb in the Cabbage Patch: America's Closest Call with an Accidental Nuke

A faulty light and a misplaced hand aboard a B-47 bomber led to the U.S. Air Force accidentally dropping an atomic bomb on a family's backyard in 1958. The nuclear payload was missing, but the resulting explosion revealed just how close the Cold War came to disaster at home.

History Military Technology & Strategy Oddities & Curiosities

How a Single Switch Prevented an American Hiroshima

When a B-52 carrying two hydrogen bombs broke up over North Carolina in 1961, three of four safety mechanisms on one bomb failed. The detonation of a weapon 250 times stronger than Hiroshima was ultimately prevented by a single, simple, low-voltage switch.

History Military Technology & Strategy Technology & Innovation

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