# If the Nuclear Warheads Fly towards HeyHomie's home.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-nuclear-warheads-fly-towards-heyhomies-home/254501>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 10, 2004, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-nuclear-warheads-fly-towards-heyhomies-home/254501 "2004-07-10T23:55:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\
**Post date:** [July 10, 2004, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-nuclear-warheads-fly-towards-heyhomies-home/254501/1 "2004-07-10T23:55:11Z")

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Would we know it? I don’t know how advanced our missle detection systems are, but how would the systems in place know the difference between a nuclear missle, and a really fast Cessna 172? 🙂

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-nuclear-warheads-fly-towards-heyhomies-home/254501/2 "2004-07-11T00:03:05Z")

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Well, assuming the NKs use a route over the poles for their missiles, we can “thank” the [D.E.W. Line](http://www.bellsystemmemorial.com/dewline.html) in Canada for enough warning to be able to track down that hot neighbor and say, “Let’s get a nut before it hits!” (With apologies to Richard Pryor.)

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**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-nuclear-warheads-fly-towards-heyhomies-home/254501/3 "2004-07-11T01:19:21Z")

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> [@Tuckerfan](#):
>
> Well, assuming the NKs use a route over the poles for their missiles, we can “thank” the [D.E.W. Line](http://www.bellsystemmemorial.com/dewline.html) in Canada for enough warning to be able to track down that hot neighbor and say, “Let’s get a nut before it hits!” (With apologies to Richard Pryor.)

Just a bit of a nitpick…The DEW line has been replaced with [NWS](http://www.radomes.org/museum/documents/NorthWarningSystem.html)

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**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\
**Post date:** [July 13, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-the-nuclear-warheads-fly-towards-heyhomies-home/254501/4 "2004-07-13T11:55:51Z")

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> [@ParentalAdvisory](#):
>
> Would we know it? I don’t know how advanced our missle detection systems are, but how would the systems in place know the difference between a nuclear missle, and a really fast Cessna 172? 🙂

Nuclear Missile - altitude over N. Pole = Sub orbital, speed = huge Mach numbers.  
Cessna 172 - \<WAG\> 20K feet is REALLY high in altitude for this plane (Unpresurized, etc), and speed \< 500MPH

would be a pretty easy thing to see the difference between on the above mentioned radar systems.