Counting nuclear warheads in the new arms race

The United States, Russia and China are spending tens of billions of dollars on new nuclear weapons and modernizing their missiles, strategic bombers and nuclear submarines.

John WolfsthalFormer advisor to Presidents Obama and Biden, currently Director Global Risk -most Federation of American Scientistssays:

“We are back to the arms race dynamics of the Cold War, where both sides believed that nuclear weapons were important.”

Here is some very new evidence.

The first is by Russian President Vladimir Putin. announcement In October, Russia successfully tested two new nuclear weapons.

long range burevestnik The cruise missile used a nuclear engine, but did not detonate a nuclear warhead in the test flight.

A Russian submarine then fired a nuclear-powered underwater drone. Poseidon. This weapon was also powered by a nuclear reactor and was also unarmed.

The Kremlin, through the Russian media, has made extraordinary claims that this silent killer could travel far enough to hit America’s West Coast and trigger a major disaster. radioactive tsunami. It is unclear whether this prototype is a psychological weapon rather than a new strategic addition to Russia’s arsenal.

The US is reacting quickly as the psychological warfare continues.

A closely followed military blog on November 4, 2025, aviation mancaptured a dramatic close-up photo. A B-52H bomber flying low over California appeared to be carrying what bloggers claimed was a next-generation stealth nuclear cruise missile.

On November 5, the United States conducted its own “long-planned routine test” of one of the thousands of weapons in its nuclear triad. Unarmed Minuteman III The intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the US Navy’s E-6B aircraft. It hit its target after traveling approximately 6,700 kilometers across the Pacific. Ronald Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

These are but a glimpse of what the nuclear superpowers are trying to do in the 21st century arms race.

Maximum secrecy surrounds the rapid development of a range of information new technologies weapons in space, cyber attacks, advances in missile defense systems and the application of quantum computers in undersea warfare.

Executive Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SPIRI), Dan Smithsays:

“…a new arms race is being prepared, carrying much more risk and uncertainty than the previous one.”

Artificial intelligence can speed up decision-making in crises. However SIPRI experts believe This will mean a higher risk of nuclear conflict as a result ‘miscommunication, misunderstanding or technical accident’.

The full list of nuclear warheads held by the nine countries believed to possess these weapons is secret and disputed even by the world’s most respected independent experts.

President Donald Trump recently claimed that the United States has the most nuclear weapons, although this claim is denied by others.

Federation of American Scientists (MOROCCO) says that Russia has 5,459 warheads and the United States has 5,177.

Arms Control Association Washington gives higher estimates because Russia has 5,580 warheads and the United States has 5,225 warheads.

China is the third largest nuclear power, with approximately 600 warheads. China has doubled its nuclear arsenal in the past five years and will surpass 1,000 warheads by 2030, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

France’s Force de Frappe has 290 nuclear weapons. The UK has 225 missiles, along with an unknown number of US missiles from visiting American aircraft or aircraft carriers.

After a recent renovation air strikes and retaliatory bombing It is clear that even the nuclear deterrents between India (180 nuclear warheads) and Pakistan (170 warheads) do not guarantee that these nations will always avoid conflict.

Israel has never admitted to having nuclear weapons, but according to Arms Control AssociationThere are at least 90 of them. Extraordinary US during Israel’s conflict with Iran Attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities The facilities were intended to prevent the threat of another so-called “rogue nuclear nation.”

Possessing an estimated 50 nuclear warheads, North Korea is the extraordinary rogue state. He refused to join the nuclear testing moratorium and conducted six explosive tests. There are reports that seventh explosive test very soon, which may make sense of a recent accusation by President Trump of Kim Jong-un, the leader he calls “little rocket man.” I’m still testing secretly nuclear weapons.

Since the end of the Cold War, the US and Russia have experienced reductions in the size of their nuclear arsenals. The steady dismantling of aging nuclear warheads has generally outpaced the deployment of new nuclear weapons.

If President Trump and Putin cannot revive enough confidence to move forward in 2010, we should be concerned that nuclear weapons stockpiles are expected to increase. New START Treaty.

Accordingly Hans Kristensen Federation of American Scientists:

The era of reduction in the number of weapons in the world… is nearing its end.

Instead, we see a clear trend towards increasing nuclear arsenals, sharpening nuclear rhetoric, and abandoning arms control agreements.

Reporting on nearly 30 conflicts has certainly shaped my view of the madness of war. You’ll need more than night vision goggles to see where this new nuclear arms race takes us. Remember that Mutual Assured Destruction is just a theory, there is no guarantee that nuclear weapons will prevent a global war. Almost every fearsome weapon invented has been used more than once.

Dr Jeff McMullen AM is a journalist, author and filmmaker known for his reporting and advocacy for 60 years. McMullen has served as a foreign correspondent for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, a correspondent for Four Corners and Sixty Minutes, presenter of ABC Television’s 33-episode Issue Series, Opinion Difference, and director of independent documentaries. He was awarded the United Nations Media Peace Prize for his trilogy of hour-long documentaries about the conflict in Central America.

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