permissive action link

A device included in or attached to a nuclear weapon system to preclude arming and/or launching until the insertion of a prescribed discrete code or combination. It may include equipment and cabling external to the weapon or weapon system to activate components within the weapon or weapon system.

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.

References in periodicals archive

New Delhi knows well that the US is trying to pressure Pakistan until Islamabad accepts PALs (permissive action links) on our nuclear devices.

AI and India's status

They argue that the combination of physical protection and, in most cases, electronic safeguards (permissive action links, or PALs) means that their arsenals would remain secure even if countries where they are stored or deployed were engulfed by violence.

Nuclear weapons in civil war zones

I say "central story," because the reader views this major nuclear incident in many segments interrupted by the other stories that make up the whole picture: weapons incidents, safety and design issues, the Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP), the Worldwide Military Command and Control System (WWMCCS), political and inter-service issues and intrigues, Permissive Action Links (PAL), real-world conflicts and geopolitical relations, bombers, submarines, the Strategic Air Command (SAC), and on and on.

Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Incident, and the Illusion of Safety

Whether Pakistan has other means of securing its arsenal, through the provision of special codes called Permissive Action Links ( PALs), or not is not known.

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