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Originally Posted by Doppleganger I'd imagine #2, though I haven't heard of any secret documents (not to say that there aren't).
I think it's obvious to all that Germany could *very* easily be a nuclear power if there was the political will and climate for it to happen. Germany is still after all one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world.
I suspect that, had Soviet forces attacked West Germany during the Cold War, West German units would have had tactical nuclear missiles made available to them, as most observers were of the opinion that NATO would have to have deployed those in order to blunt the Soviet advance until NATO reserves arrived in theatre. |
Doppleganger's hypothesis seems correct. German industry is (or was) first of all an "enriching" country with probably moderate uranium output. While centrifuges for weapons grade plutonium are more complex than for civilian purposes, it is relatively easy to speculate that the Germans are more than able to produce good or great military-industrial variants.
German industry also imports (now only waste) and uses (used) a significant enough quantity of uranium from which to theoretically develop a range of nuclear devices (at the very least a "dirty bomb"). Unlike Iran or Pakistan, the Germans also have direct ICBM capabilities. "Bomb plus rocket" is the far greater evil...something that is not stated often enough in the press.
The German government and people are, however, very adamant in supporting NPT and a significant group of citizens want to ban nuclear energy altogether. Considering the problems of nuclear waste or proliferation, this seems to be a very good idea.
My own hypothesis (no evidence): I think Germany produced its own tactical nukes under American supervision during the Cold War. I might accept the argument that the US gave Germany tactical nukes, however, the damn things are really expensive. The American military furthermore seemed loath to give anyone any of their nuclear secrets. For good reason. All of that testing during the 1950s-1980s ensured that American nukes were extremely effective...if effective is an appropriate word.
http://www.uic.com.au/nip33.htm http://www.inesap.org/bulletin16/bul16art15.htm