Monthly Archives: December 2023

NASIC and Missile Fuel

The 2020 NASIC report has a paragraph about solid- vs. liquid-fueled missiles:

The trend in modern missile systems has been toward the use of solid propellants because of their reduced logistical requirements and simplicity of operation. However, some nations have greater access to liquid-propellant technology and continue to develop new liquid-propellant missiles. In addition, liquid-propellant missiles can be more efficient than solid-propellant missiles for very heavy payloads. The missiles with the world’s heaviest payloads, the Russian SS- 18 and Chinese CSS-4, are liquid-propellant ICBMs, and Russia is developing a new heavy-lift, liquid-propellant ICBM called the Sarmat.

Group of Governmental Experts to Further Consider Nuclear Disarmament Verification Issues

This past June, the UN published the final report of the Group of Governmental Experts to Further Consider Nuclear Disarmament Verification Issues

the Group developed the following working definition to guide its work: nuclear disarmament verification is a process driven by states parties to a specific treaty, agreement or arrangement, of gathering and analysing information, based on agreed technologies, methodologies and procedures, to enable assessment of compliance with relevant nuclear disarmament commitments and obligations, or an assessment of adherence to unilateral undertakings as set out in a verification arrangement, with the overarching goal of achieving and maintaining a world free of nuclear weapons.

Poison Fog

From the God Dethroned album Passiondale:

Vicious death creeping across the fields
Mustard gas, a deadly hellish fiend
A choking grip is locked around your neck
Vomit blood, your face turns grey, you’re dead