Dead Hand

English

Proper noun

Dead Hand

1. A system capable of closing a strategic nuclear strike control loop in the absence of normal command and control channels, analogous in concept to a deadman switch, in anticipation of a decapitation strike. Implemented by the Soviet Union and by the Russian Federation as the successor state thereof.
   • 2009 September 21, Nicholas Thompson, “Inside the Apocalyptic Soviet Doomsday Machine”, in Wired‎^[1], →ISSN:

     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.

See also

• dead hand
• deadman