This fundamental fact has been lost in the public clamor in the West over the neutron weapons and the Soviet propaganda campaign against them. To understand why the neutron bombs are less effective, one need only compare the effects of a fission warhead typical of those now deployed, which has a 10 kiloton yield equivalent to 10,000 tons of TNT, with the effects of a standard neutron one-kiloton warhead, such as those now authorized by President Reagan. The nuclear radiation from both these warheads incapacitate tank crews at the same range, about one half mile from the point of burst. So the neutron bomb provides no gain when it comes to killing tank crews. But killing tank crews with nuclear radiation is not a very satisfactory way of neutralizing a Soviet tank on the battlefield.
Radiation kills slowly.
An individual who receives just a lethal dose might not suffer ill effects for a day or so and could continue to fight with his tank. Even if he was exposed to five times a lethal dose, he might suffer temporary incapacitation, then recover and be able to fight for several hours as a kamikaze. Attacking the tank crews with radiation is most unsatisfactory from his point of view. Only when the tank is visibly damaged by the blast from an atomic weapon can the commander be confident of having repulsed a tank attack. But the standard neutron warhead will damage tanks only up to 200 yards.