Editing Fail-safe (section)

===Failsafe point===
During the [[Cold War]], "failsafe point" was the term used for the point of no return for American [[Strategic Air Command]] nuclear bombers, just outside Soviet airspace. In the event of receiving an attack order, the bombers were required to linger at the failsafe point and wait for a second confirming order; until one was received, they would not arm their bombs or proceed further.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/failsafe |title=fail-safe |work=Dictionary.com |accessdate=November 7, 2021}}</ref> The design was to prevent any single failure of the American command system causing nuclear war. This sense of the term entered the American popular lexicon with the publishing of the 1962 novel ''[[Fail-Safe (novel)|Fail-Safe]]''.
  
(Other nuclear war command control systems have used the opposite scheme, [[fail-deadly]], which requires continuous or regular proof that an enemy first-strike attack has ''not'' occurred to ''prevent'' the launching of a nuclear strike.)