Ask HN: What happens if a nuclear missile is air-destroyed before detonation?

So, Party A launches the nuclear missile at Party B, and Party B uses its now-apparently-at-least-occasionally-working missile defense systems to take out/destroy the missile/bomb before it can be detonated. What happens? I am thinking about how the US detonated its Hiroshima nuke about 45 seconds after dropping it from the plane, and how it was detonated, as designed I believe, about 1/3 mile above Hiroshima.
Story Published at: January 29, 2023 at 12:15PM