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Nuclear Weapons
Four aspects of current and future developments with nuclear weapons technology are:
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A single nuclear blast the size of which destroyed Hiroshima detonated 600 miles above Kansas would completely destroy the technical infrastructure of the entire country. It would do so by creating an electromagnetic pulse which would burn out all electrical equipment including power plants, computers and automobiles. Such a complete disruption of our infrastructure would probably result in starvation of most of the population.
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Nuclear weapons can be used to power huge guns with the equivalent throw weight of the entire US and Russian forces combined. Such a weapon could shoot a huge number of warheads and decoys toward a target. It could overwhelm any missile defenses both actual and theoretical. It could consist of a single nuclear weapon, creating the effects above, and thousands of biological warheads. The country could be completely devastated by any country possessing two nuclear weapons.
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The two capabilities described above could be acquired by a small country (Iran or North Korea).
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The US military is interested in developing third generation nuclear weapons with new capabilities. One of the more promising developments is the directed energy nuclear weapon. It would drive most of the bombs energy into a single direction. If it were detonated ten miles above the target, the blast would directed downward toward the target, devastating a specified area. There would be little collateral damage. In addition the radioactivity would be carried high into the atmosphere and therefore widely dispersed; thus reducing the hazard to friendly forces on the ground.