“One, usually.
There was a rumor of two but AFAIK, one.”
That was the M1 version. The article mentions that ‘An unspecified number of simulated nuclear warheads landed at an impact range on the Kura test range on the Kamchatka Peninsula’, I’m curious as to what that number might be.
“About .55 megatons to .6 megaton.
Enough to cause a bad day wherever it comes down.”
That’s for sure, 600 KT is the more than the yield of our SLBM Trident II warheads (475 KT), and forty times the explosive force of the Hiroshima bomb...
Interestingly, our Trident IIs were designed to carry up to 14 warheads, but the SORT 1 treaty reduces this to “4 or 5”, according to Wikipedia.
[ Interestingly, our Trident IIs were designed to carry up to 14 warheads, but the SORT 1 treaty reduces this to “4 or 5”, according to Wikipedia. ]
Probably 4-5 “Active” Warheads, the missle could contain ANY number of “Fake” dummy warheads that could easily be swapped out with real warheads and vice versa...
So if it contained 12 for instance over half would be “dummies” of course if actual war breaks out do you really think they wouldn’t increase that percentage to over 80%....
The idea behind “Dummy warheads” is not only to freak out the radar but if there ever is a laser missle defense system you have a higher chance of getting more through the more dummies you use and you can always “claim” that the dummies onthe missle are just dummies and not actual warheads...