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mmm__donuts t1_ixw5o5b wrote

Reply to comment by Ceratisa in Britain says Russia likely removing nuclear warheads from missiles and firing at Ukraine by Koeny1

>We calculate launch angle/trajectory using sophisticated algorithms to determine their destination.

For a cruise missile?

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Ceratisa t1_ixw5t1r wrote

Cruise missiles are a common platform for nuclear capable delivery

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mmm__donuts t1_ixw68j4 wrote

>Cruise missiles are a common platform for nuclear capable delivery

Yes. They're the one being referred to in this article. My question was whether it is possible to calculate their target from their launch trajectory since being able to change direction in flight is kind of the defining feature of a cruise missile.

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Ceratisa t1_ixw6ovu wrote

Yes, without things like scramjets these missiles do still have limited ranges, so arc and height still matter. We also track launches with satellites and when possible, long range radars

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mmm__donuts t1_ixwh7hq wrote

Cool. TIL. Is it possible to differentiate the nuclear-capable version of a cruise missile from its conventional counterpart based on these satellite or radar data? Or was the guy I responded to originally incorrect?

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Ceratisa t1_ixwza4m wrote

No, you misunderstood what I was saying. We can guess if it's a nuclear missile based on flight path because of the destination itself. There are targets you'd nuke and targets you wouldn't and by calculating their destination we can make good educated guesses.

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mmm__donuts t1_ixx2ny8 wrote

I'm still confused. Are you saying that we can make those guesses quickly enough to make decisions about what to shoot down and what to ignore based on an estimate of whether the payload is nuclear?

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