The world's nuclear powers are beefing up their arsenals as geopolitical tensions rise, reports show CNN

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CNN
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Nuclear-armed nations are bolstering their arsenals and have developed several new nuclear weapons or nuclear-capable weapons systems amid rising geopolitical tensions, a new report has found.

The nine nuclear states – the US, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel – continue to modernize their weapons stockpiles, with China, for the first time, possibly deploying “a small number”. Warheads on Missiles in Peacetime,” Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says a new report Published on Monday.

“While the number of nuclear warheads worldwide continues to decrease as a result of the gradual dismantling of Cold War-era weapons, we unfortunately see an increase in the number of operational nuclear warheads year after year,” said Dan Smith, director of the institute. “This trend looks set to continue and likely accelerate in the coming years and is extremely worrying.”

As of January 2024, according to SIPRI, the total global stockpile of warheads was estimated at 12,121, of which about 9,585 were military stockpiles for potential use. The think tank estimates that 3,904 of these warheads were deployed with missiles and aircraft, or 60 more warheads than in January 2023.

Most of the deployed warheads, about 2,100, were “put on high operational alert against ballistic missiles,” SIPRI said. While almost all of these warheads belonged to the United States and Russia, for the first time China is also believed to have some warheads on high operational alert.

According to the Swedish think tank, Russia and the United States together own about 90 percent of all nuclear weapons, and the number of usable warheads they possess was largely stable in 2023. However, Russia is estimated to have about 36 more warheads deployed with operational forces than in January 2023.

“In the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, transparency regarding nuclear power has declined in both countries and debates over nuclear sharing arrangements have increased significantly,” the Swedish think tank said.

Russia and the United States also have more than 1,200 warheads that have previously been retired from military service and are being gradually dismantled, it said.

The institute said the “public claim made in 2023” that Russia had deployed nuclear weapons on Belarusian territory, “has no conclusive visual evidence that warheads have actually been deployed.”

The size of China's nuclear arsenal is estimated to have increased from 410 warheads in January 2023 to 500 in January 2024, “and is expected to continue to grow,” according to SIPRI.

“China is expanding its nuclear arsenal faster than any other country,” said Hans M. Christensen, Associate Senior Fellow in SIPRI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Program. “But almost all nuclear-armed states have plans or significant pressure to increase nuclear power.”

China may have as many intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as Russia or the United States by the end of this decade, but Beijing's stockpile of nuclear warheads is expected to be far less than theirs.

North Korea's military nuclear program continues to be “a central component of its national security strategy,” and SIPRI estimates that the hermit empire has about 50 warheads and enough discrete components to reach up to 90 warheads, numbers that represent “a significant increase over estimates.” January 2023.”

In 2023, North Korea conducted its first test of a short-range ballistic missile from an initial silo and appears to have completed development of at least two types of land-attack cruise missiles (LACM) designed to deliver nuclear weapons. SIPRI.

“Like some other nuclear-weapon states, North Korea is putting renewed emphasis on building its arsenal of strategic nuclear weapons,” said Matt Korda, an associate researcher in SIPRI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Program. “Accordingly, there is a growing concern that North Korea could use these weapons early in a conflict.”

The wars in Ukraine and Gaza have further weakened nuclear diplomacy on the global stage, the Swedish think tank said.

In 2023 Russia suspended participation in the Treaty on the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New Start), the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty limiting Russian and US strategic nuclear forces, while the US also stopped data sharing in response.

Moscow has continued to threaten the use of nuclear weapons in light of Western aid to Ukraine and conducted strategic nuclear weapons drills near Ukraine's border in May 2024, SIPRI said.

“We haven't seen nuclear weapons play such an important role in international relations since the Cold War,” said Wilfred Wann, director of SIPRI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Program. “It is hard to believe that only two years have passed since the leaders of the five largest nuclear-weapon states jointly reaffirmed that 'nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,'” he said.

Furthermore, an agreement between Iran and the United States in June 2023 “seemed to temporarily ease tensions between the two countries”, but the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October “suspended the agreement with proxy attacks by Iranian-backed groups” on US forces in Iraq and Syria. apparently ending Iran-US diplomatic efforts,” SIPRI said.

The Israel-Hamas war has “undermined efforts” to involve Israel in a conference to establish a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, the think tank said.