Dead Hand

dead hand English thumb|A view like this would perhaps be one's last if the Dead Hand reached out. Proper noun Dead Hand en Q907393 A weapons system, implemented by the Soviet Union and by the Russian Federation as the successor state thereof, capable of closing a strategic nuclear strike control loop in the absence of normal command and control channels, analogous in concept to a dead man's switch, in anticipation of a decapitation strike. en nuclear deterrent#Noun < deterrent#Noun en doomsday weapon doomsday device doomsday bomb en Sometimes people glibly speak as if the Dead Hand were a thing of the past, but it is foolhardy to assume so. en-US Nicholas Thompson Inside the Apocalyptic Soviet Doomsday Machine Wired 2009-09-21 https://www.wired.com/2009/09/mf-deadhand/ 1059-1028 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. https://web.archive.org/web/20261008080611/https://www.wired.com/2009/09/mf-deadhand/ 8 October 2026 en Q907393 or foreign counterpart Any such system, whether the cardinal instance (the Soviet/Russian one) or another. en The talk then turned darkly to the prospects for building a Dead Hand of their own. Related terms en dead hand deadman fail-deadly See also en counterstrike en Cold War Nuclear warfare Russia Soviet Union