in the depths of the Cold War as tensions between the US and the Soviet Union reach fever pitch Soviet military engineers were tasked with creating a system that would guarantee a retaliatory strike even if their leadership were wiped out this system became known as the perimeter or the Dead Hand a last resort measure born from the fear of a sudden decapitating nuclear attack the perimeter was developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s by Soviet scientists under orders from the Kremlin it was designed as a fully automated response system that could launch nuclear missiles without human intervention the system was meant to ensure that the Soviet Union could retaliate against any Nuclear Strike even if its leadership and command structures were obliterated in a first strike the perimeter is activated only under dire circumstances if the system switched on it monitors a network of sensors spread across the Soviet Union that detect nuclear detonations seismic activity radiation levels and communication outages if these sensors indicate that a catastrophic strike has occurred and no high ranking officials are left to give the order perimeter would then launch a pre-programmed response this response would direct nuclear missiles towards major targets around the world ensuring Mutual destruction once activated perimeter communicates with missile silos and submarines via a network of lowf frequency signals bypassing any damaged or destroyed communication lines it's a Doomsday Machine with no off switch once it's in Motion Picture This a false alarm or a malfunction triggers perimeter perhaps a misreading of seismic data or a communication blackout mistaken for a decapitation strike the system interpreting these as signs of a nuclear attack comes to life there's no human to counterman the order no way to halt the inevitable chain of events in the dead of night without warning nuclear missiles are launched from their silos deep in the Russian Wilderness submarines receiving the automated command fire their payloads within minutes major cities across the globe New York London Beijing Paris are engulfed in nuclear fire Millions die instantly while the survivors face a nightmarish world of radioactive fallout collapsed infrastructures and the onset of nuclear winter the system designed to protect has instead brought about the end of civilization as we know it [Music]