Cold war vocabulary

CRUISE MISSILE

A guided missile,similar to a pilotless jet aircraft

EQUIVALENT MEGATONNAGE

A measure of the destructive potential of varying combinations of warhead yields against cities and industrial centers

ANTI-BALLISTIC MISSILE (ABM)

A missile capable of intercepting incoming Ballisitc missiles

HEAVY BOMBER

A strategic delivery aircaft,such as the U.S. B-52.

AWACS

Airbone Warning Control System

FIRST STRIKE

An initial attack with nuclear weapons on missile silos and military positions

ICBMs

Intercontinental (land-based) Ballistic Missiles,such as the U.S. Minutemen

MOBILE MISSILES

Land-based missiles that can be moved to avoid successful targetting by an opponent

MIRV

Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle : a system of several warheads, each capable of being delivered against a different target, that can be carried on a single missilie.

MAD

Mutual Assured Destruction

CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS

Non-nuclear weaponry

NUTS

Nuclear Utilization Target Selection deals with limited war fighting situations or for an extended period of general war between the super powers

TACTICAL WEAPONS

Nuclear or non-nuclear weapons of a medium-or-short-range targeting capacity, used primarily in a given battle zone

STRATEGIC WEAPONS

Nuclear weaponry that can reach the territory of one nation from the territory of another.

SLBMs

Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles, such as the U.S. Polaries Poseidon and Trident ( under development)

THROW WEIGHT

The amount of weight that can be put on the end if a missile and thrown from launch to target

HARD TARGET KILL POTENTIAL

The capability to destroy hardened targets such as missile silos.

NATIONAL TECHNICAL MEANS (NTM)

The combination of intelligence activities--especially satellite photographic reconnaissance--by which one country can monitor activites in another country, without ''one site'' inspection.

TRIAD

The combination of land-, air-, and sea-based strategic delivery systems

YIELD

The effective energyy released in a nuclear explosion.

PAYLOAD

The explosive charge carried in a warhead

DELIVERY VEHICLE

The missile and/or missile carrier and/or bomb carrier that delievers a nuclear explosive against a target

FIRST USE

The use of theater nuclear wepons after a conventional war has begun and one side is losing

THEATER NUCLEAR WEAPON

U.S. nuclear weapons with ranges of only a few miles.