first strike

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first strike

A preemptive attack against an enemy, especially one using nuclear weapons against an enemy armed with nuclear weapons.

first′-strike′ adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

first′ strike′

a preemptive use of nuclear weapons in a conflict.

first strike

The first offensive move of a war. (Generally associated with nuclear operations.)

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.

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Noun

first strike - the initial use of nuclear weapons to attack a country that also has nuclear weapons; considered feasible only when the attacker can destroy the other country's ability to retaliate; "the Pakistani president promised no first strike against India"

strike - an attack that is intended to seize or inflict damage on or destroy an objective; "the strike was scheduled to begin at dawn"

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References in periodicals archive ?

The ability of a nation to suffer "a surprise, first-strike attack by any other nation and still inflict massive retaliatory destruction on the aggressor" (Polmar, 1982, 1) is one that arguably belongs exclusively to the members of the nuclear club.

Minimum deterrence as a vulnerability in the market provision of national defense

For many years the US Space Command has been annually war-gaming a first-strike attack on China.

Full-spectrum dominance: missile defense or global missile offense?

Survivability of nuclear weapons gives more assured capability to hit enemy targets even after a nuclear first-strike attack, which is crucial to the credibility of a nuclear deterrent.

LEAD: U.S. seeking strategic and nuclear dialogue with China

It means that the US could launch a first-strike attack without fear of retaliation, giving it greater power to start a nuclear war anywhere in the world and making us its accomplice.

Letter: Stealthy moves on nuclear weapons; Voice of the North

This recommendation would hold true only as long as the probability of an enemy or combination of enemies destroying Israel's land-based and airborne-launched nuclear missiles in a first-strike attack remains low.

Israel's uncertain strategic future

Helping her choose, say, adoption is denounced as a first-strike attack on the "right to choose," rather than a perfect example of exercising "choice."

Snowflakes Falling?

Especially because the United States could use Star Wars not as missile defense but as missile offense: as an integral part of a first-strike attack. If the United States wanted to attack China, it would launch a first strike to destroy as many of China's stockpiled weapons as it could find.

The Dawn of the Second Cold War

This means, among other things, that if a first-strike attack is believed capable of destroying Israel's arsenal, the Jewish state's nuclear deterrent will be immobilized.