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I was thinking the other day, we have quite a few nuclear weapons in our arsenal. Say a country uses ballistic or cruise missiles on us. Can't you send up another nuclear weapon and detonate it within range of the incoming missiles to destroy the incoming missiles? You could miss by miles and still take out the incoming nuclear missiles.

Thoughts?

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    $\begingroup$ lol you have been watching too many movies. This isn't the type of question that should be asked in this site. $\endgroup$ – Robben Sep 30 '19 at 0:58
  • $\begingroup$ "The Russian A-135 anti-ballistic missile system is used for the defense of Moscow. It became operational in 1995 and was preceded by the A-35 anti-ballistic missile system. The system uses Gorgon and Gazelle missiles with nuclear warheads to intercept incoming ICBMs." - Anti-ballistic missile:Current counter-ICBM systems $\endgroup$ – Alfred Centauri Sep 30 '19 at 1:08
  • $\begingroup$ Steve, I've downvoted your question for the "does not show any research effort" reason. I've also voted to close your question for the "off-topic" reason. I don't see a conceptual physics question here. $\endgroup$ – Alfred Centauri Sep 30 '19 at 1:11
  • $\begingroup$ I came here specifically for "research" being conveyed. Also I couldn't find a relevant stackexchange site for this question. Also look at Alfred's comment. $\endgroup$ – Steve Mucci Sep 30 '19 at 1:20
  • $\begingroup$ "You could miss by miles..." No. Not by miles. The effects of exploding a nuclear weapon in space are much different from the effects of exploding one in the atmosphere. And also, disabling an armored target the size of a kitchen trash can is a very different problem from knocking down buildings and bridges. $\endgroup$ – Solomon Slow Sep 30 '19 at 14:13
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Yes, this was the operating principle of the Nike Zeus missile defense system that the USA deployed across the nation in the 1950's and 60's.

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