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7. World nuclear forces
Contents
I. Introduction
II. US nuclear forces
III. Russian nuclear forces
IV. British nuclear forces
V. French nuclear forces
VI. Chinese nuclear forces
VII. Indian nuclear forces
VIII. Pakistani nuclear forces
IX. Israeli nuclear forces
X. North Korea’s military nuclear capabilities
XI. Conclusions
Summary
In January 2011 eight states—the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan and Israel—possessed more than 20 500 nuclear weapons, including operational weapons, spares, those in both active and inactive storage and intact weapons scheduled for dismantlement. Of this total figure, more than 5000 nuclear weapons are deployed and ready for use, including nearly 2000 that are kept in a state of high operational alert.
The five legally recognized nuclear weapon states, as defined by the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)—China, France, Russia, the UK and the USA—are either deploying new nuclear weapon systems or have announced their intention to do so; none appears to be prepared to give up its nuclear arsenals in the foreseeable future.
India and Pakistan, which along with Israel are de facto nuclear weapon states outside the NPT, continue to develop new ballistic and cruise missile systems capable of delivering nuclear weapons. They are also expanding their capacities to produce fissile material for military purposes. Israel appears to be waiting to assess how the situation with Iran’s nuclear programme develops.
North Korea is believed to have produced enough plutonium to build a small number of nuclear warheads, but there is no public information to verify that it has operational nuclear weapons.
World nuclear forces, 2011
| Country | Deployed warheads |
Other warheads |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| USA | 2 150 | 6 350 | 8 500 |
| Russia | 2 427 | 8 570 | 11 000 |
| UK | 160 | 65 | 225 |
| France | 290 | 10 | 300 |
| China | . . | 200 | 240 |
| India | . . | 80–100 | 80–100 |
| Pakistan | . . | 90–110 | 90–110 |
| Israel | . . | 80 | 80 |
| Total | 5 027 | 15 500 | 20 530 |
All estimates are approximate and are as of January 2011.
Shannon N. Kile (United States) is a Senior Researcher and Head of the Nuclear Weapons Project of the SIPRI Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme.
Vitaly Fedchenko (Russia) is a Researcher with the SIPRI Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme.
Dr Bharath Gopalaswamy (India) is a visiting scholar at the Judith Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict studies at Cornell University.
Hans M. Kristensen (Denmark) is Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS).
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