The dead hand guarantees that any nuclear attack on Russian territory receives a proportional response regardless of the damage that may be caused in the process.
The cold war and the possibility of a nuclear war between the United States and Russia forced the latter to devise a response mechanism that would allow a rapid response in the event of a nuclear attack.
This is how what is known as “The Dead Hand” was created, a security system that allows Russian forces to carry out an automatic nuclear attack in the event of being victims of an attack that decapitates the high command of that country. In this way, the system comes into action without the need for human intervention and starts a process to calculate the damage suffered and determine the level of retaliation that will be used, that is, the number of nuclear warheads that will be fired.
Vladimir Yarynich, one of the scientists in charge of the development of Perimeter (as it is also known), explained at the time that it is a very important tool because in the event of a massive nuclear attack it ensures mutual destruction among all countries. involved.
Likewise, it also functions as a kind of security measure since, in the event that a nuclear launch by another power is detected, the Russian president can put the system on alert, thus ensuring a military response if necessary.
The Dead Hand has been seen by many experts as one of the great causes of peace between countries with nuclear capabilities since it acts as a deterrent by ensuring that in a confrontation of these characteristics no one will be able to rise as the winner.
How is nuclear attack detected?
In order to be able to start its attack protocol, the system must verify that some point in Russian territory has indeed been hit by a nuclear warhead. To do this, it uses systems that are responsible for detecting any type of seismic, light, radioactive activity, or an exceptionally sudden change in pressure associated with a nuclear explosion.
Once the attack is detected, the Dead Hand is in charge of sending a predefined attack order that has the highest level of authorization granted by the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, in such a way that all strategic missile forces and silos Prepare to deploy your missiles.
Although its exact status is not known, it is speculated that in times of peace this system is deactivated by the Russian president. However, some think that since its creation it has remained active at all times, even today.