BRIEFING: The 72-Minute End of the World

The Reality of the Numbers Most people think nuclear war is something from the movies or the distant past. It is not. Right now, the United States has approximately 1,770 nuclear weapons ready to launch in less than 60 seconds. Russia has roughly the same amount.

These are not just bombs; they are world-enders. We are currently sitting on a powder keg of thousands of weapons pointed at each other, waiting for a single command.

The Myth of Defense There is a common belief that if Russia launches a nuclear missile, the United States can simply shoot it down. This is false.

Here is the math:

• Russia would launch over 1,000 missiles at once to overwhelm us.
• The United States has only 44 interceptor missiles (defense weapons) to shoot back.
• Even worse, those 44 interceptors have a fail rate of 50%.

Imagine 1,000 bullets are fired at you, and you have a shield that is the size of a dinner plate and it only works half the time. That is our defense. We are completely open to attack.

The Timeline: 26 Minutes to Impact If a nuclear war starts, it happens faster than you can watch a sitcom episode. From the moment a missile launches from Russia to the moment it hits Washington D.C., it takes exactly 26 minutes and 40 seconds.

Here is how it happens, minute by minute:

• 0:00 – The Launch: Russia fires its ballistic missiles. They travel fast—about 14,000 miles per hour.
• 0:01 – The Detection: A US satellite system called SBIRS (Space-Based Infrared System) sees the heat flash of the rockets instantly. It knows in a split second that the end has begun.
• The Reaction: The US President has roughly 6 minutes to decide to fire back. Once they decide, there is no undo button.
• 0:26 – The Impact: The missiles hit.

The Outcome: Millions, Then Billions The entire war—from the first shot to the end of civilization—takes only 72 minutes.

1. Phase 1 (The first hour): Millions of people die instantly. They are vaporized by heat hotter than the sun or crushed by the blast.
2. Phase 2 (The coming weeks): Smoke and soot from the burning cities rise into the sky and block out the sun. This creates a “Nuclear Winter.”
3. The Final Count: Because the sun is blocked, crops die. Agriculture fails worldwide. In the months following the war, 5 billion people will starve to death.

We are not hunter-gatherers anymore; we rely on grocery stores. When the stores empty, humanity ends. We revert to the Stone Age. This is not a possibility; this is the calculated, guaranteed outcome of a nuclear exchange.