By Hans M. Kristensen Despite their age, U.S. nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) continue to carry out strategic deterrent patrols at a steady rate of around 30 patrols per year, according to data obtained from the U.S. Navy under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by the Federation of American Scientists’ Nuclear Information Project. Yet […]
Read MoreHans M. Kristensen
Hans M. Kristensen is the director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists where he provides the public with analysis and background information about the status of nuclear forces and the role of nuclear weapons. He is the co-author to the Nuclear Notebook in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and the World Nuclear Forces chapter in the SIPRI Yearbook. Kristensen is a frequent advisor to the news media about the status and operations of the nuclear arsenals of the world's nine nuclear-armed states.
Recent Activity from Hans M. Kristensen
Despite Rhetoric, US Stockpile Continues to Decline
By Hans M. Kristensen The US nuclear weapons stockpile dropped to 3,822 warheads by September 2017 – down nearly 200 warheads from the last year of the Obama administration, according to new information released by the Department of Defense in response to a request from the Federation of American Scientists (see here for full document). […]
Read MoreAfter Seven Years of Implementation, New START Treaty Enters Into Effect
By Hans M. Kristensen [Note: On February 22nd, the US State Department published updated numbers instead of relying on September 2017 numbers. This blog and tables have been updated accordingly.] Seven years after the New START treaty between Russia and the United States entered into force in 2011, the treaty entered into effect on February […]
Read MoreNew Data Shows Detail About Final Phase of US New START Treaty Reductions
By Hans M. Kristensen The full unclassified New START treaty data set released by State Department yesterday shows that the US reduction of its nuclear forces to meet the treaty limit had been completed by September 1, 2017, more than four months early before the deadline next month on February 5, 2018. The data set […]
Read MoreNNSA’s New Nuclear Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan
By Hans M. Kristensen The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has published its long-awaited Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan (SSMP) for Fiscal Year 2018. The SSMP is NNSA’s 25-year strategic program of record. I’ll leave it to others to analyze the infrastructure and fissile material portions and focus on the nuclear weapons life-extension programs (LEPs) […]
Read MoreCBO Study Presents Options For A More Affordable Nuclear Modernization Plan
A new report by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the current plan to sustain and modernize US nuclear forces will cost $1.2 trillion over the next 30 years – or $41.4 billion per year. A study by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in 2014 projected the cost would be “over $1 […]
Read MoreNATO Nuclear Exercise Underway With Czech and Polish Participation
By Hans M. Kristensen NATO reportedly has quietly started its annual Steadfast Noon nuclear strike exercise in Europe. This is the exercise that practices NATO’s nuclear strike mission with dual-capable aircraft (DCA) and the B61 tactical nuclear bombs the US deploys in Europe. In addition to nuclear-capable aircraft from Belgium, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, local […]
Read More‘Small Hands’ Don’t Like Small Nuclear Arsenals
By Hans M. Kristensen According to an NBC News report, President Donald Trump said during a meeting at the Pentagon on July 20 that “he wanted what amounted to a nearly tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal,” according to three officials who were in the room. Trump’s statement came in response to a chart […]
Read MoreNew START Data: Russia Slashes Deployed Warheads, US Reaches Limits
By Hans M. Kristensen The United States has now reached the limits for all three weapons categories under the New START treaty. The latest data published by the State Department shows that the United States for the first time since the treaty entered into force in 2011 has reached the limit of 800 deployed and […]
Read MoreNASIC Removes Russian INF-Violating Missile From Report
By Hans M. Kristensen The U.S. Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) has quietly published a corrected report on the world’s Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threats that deletes a previously identified Russian ground-launched cruise missile. The earlier version, published on June 26, 2017, identified a “ground” version of the 3M-14 land-attack cruise […]
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