launch on warning

launch on warning (LOW), military strategy that allows high-level commanders to launch a retaliatory nuclear-weapons strike against an opponent as soon as satellites and other warning sensors detect an incoming enemy missile. Though the United States had considered the possibility of adopting LOW since the 1950s, the strategy did not become part of the country’s Single Integrated Operational Plan until 1979. LOW was replaced in 1997 by a strategy that emphasized the confirmation of a nuclear detonation before launching a retaliatory strike.

Both the advantages and the disadvantages of the LOW strategy are quite serious. Should an enemy attempt to send nuclear missiles to destroy another nation’s missiles, the LOW strategy would allow the targeted nation to launch its nuclear missiles before the silos that hold them could be struck by incoming enemy missiles. The strategy, however, does not take into consideration the potential for false alarms, such as when a glitch in radar software or a human error in interpreting data causes high-level military commanders to believe that an enemy nuclear strike is imminent. Such false warnings might not be identified and fixed in time to prevent the launch of a retaliatory, yet unprovoked, nuclear strike.