Fail-deadly
Sign in to saveFail-deadly is a concept in nuclear military strategy that encourages deterrence by guaranteeing an immediate, automatic, and overwhelming response to an attack, even if there is no one left to trigger such retaliation. The term fail-deadly was coined as a contrast to fail-safe.
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Fail-deadly is a concept in nuclear military strategy that encourages deterrence by guaranteeing an immediate, automatic, and overwhelming response to an attack, even if there is no one left to trigger such retaliation. The term fail-deadly was coined as a contrast to fail-safe.
Fail-deadly can refer to specific technology components, or the controls system as a whole. The United Kingdom's fail-deadly policies delegate strike authority to submarine commanders in the event of a loss of command (using letters of last resort), ensuring that even when uncoordinated, nuclear retaliation can be carried out.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Fail-deadly” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.