Dead Hand
English
Proper noun
- A system capable of closing a strategic nuclear strike control loop in the absence of normal command and control channels, analogous in concept to a deadman switch, in anticipation of a decapitation strike. Implemented by the Soviet Union and by the Russian Federation as the successor state thereof.
- 2009 September 21, Nicholas Thompson, “Inside the Apocalyptic Soviet Doomsday Machine”, in Wired, →ISSN:
- The system may no longer be a central element of Russian strategy—US-based Russian arms expert Pavel Podvig calls it now "just another cog in the machine"—but Dead Hand is still armed.
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