Yeah, pretty sure mutually assured destruction is the expected outcome of any nuclear launch. I suppose some nuclear armed Countries have few enough that if they were to attack US, we wouldn't be wiped out assuming nobody else joined in.

A "boomer" is a specific type of nuclear submarine, the most lethal part of our nuclear triad. We have no replacement scheduled, and the existing ones all come out of service next decade. That could seriously reduce our deterrent value.

China is still rated behind Russia's military, which has to be solely because they have fewer nukes. I don't know how many we could knock out before they hit. Really hope not to find out! That's a capability we should be expanding. China's not far from being able to knock down anything as it gets above treeline, planes included. Directed energy from space. This is no doubt why DJT started a separate space force.