Editing World War III (section)

===Operation Dropshot===
{{Main|Operation Dropshot}}

Operation Dropshot was the 1950s United States contingency plan for a possible [[Nuclear weapon|nuclear]] and conventional war with the [[Soviet Union]] in the Western European and Asian theaters. Although the scenario made use of nuclear weapons, they were not expected to play a decisive role.

At the time, the [[Nuclear weapons of the United States|US nuclear arsenal]] was limited in size, based mostly in the United States, and depended on [[Strategic bomber|bombers]] for delivery. Dropshot included mission profiles that would have used 300 [[nuclear bombs]] and 29,000 high-explosive bombs on 200 targets in 100 cities and towns to wipe out 85% of the Soviet Union's industrial potential in a single stroke. Between 75 and 100 of the 300 nuclear weapons were targeted to destroy Soviet combat aircraft on the ground.

The scenario was devised before the development of [[intercontinental ballistic missile]]s. It was also devised before [[President of the United States|US President]] [[John F. Kennedy]] and his [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[Robert McNamara]] changed the US Nuclear War plan from the 'city killing' [[countervalue]] strike plan to a "[[counterforce]]" plan (targeted more at military forces). Nuclear weapons at this time were not accurate enough to hit a naval base without destroying the city adjacent to it, so the aim of using them was to destroy the enemy's industrial capacity to cripple their war economy.