By Hans M. Kristensen The Air Force has begun construction of a new underground nuclear weapons storage and handling facility at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The new Weapons Storage and Maintenance Facility (WSMF; sometimes called Weapons Generation Facility), which will replace the current Weapons Storage Area (WSA), will be a 90,000-square-foot […]
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
(The Other) Red Storm Rising: INDO-PACOM China Military Projection
Some Missile Numbers Do Not Match Recent DOD China Report By Hans M. Kristensen U.S. Indo-Pacific Command recently gave a briefing about the challenges the command sees in the region. The briefing says China is the “Greatest Threat to Global Order and Stability” and presents a set of maps that portray a massive Chinese military […]
Read MoreThe Pentagon’s 2020 China Report
By Hans M. Kristensen and Matt Korda (With table corrected for typos) The Pentagon has just released its long-awaited 2020 version of its annual report on China’s military developments. In this article, we review the elements concerning China’s nuclear forces. The Size of the Warhead Stockpile The biggest surprise in the new report is that […]
Read MoreRemembering Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 75 Years After
Seventy-five years later, we commemorate the nuclear attacks and the unspeakable human suffering they inflicted, which remind us of the uniquely destructive capability of nuclear weapons and the importance of ensuring that they are never used in anger again.
Read More75 Years Ago: The Trinity Nuclear Test
The first ever nuclear detonation––known as the Trinity test––took place in New Mexico on July 16th, 1945. In the decades that followed, nuclear testing contaminated lands, oceans, and people, and triggered a nuclear arms race that continues to this day.
Read MoreThe State Department’s Compliance Report Plays the Blame Game, Despite Offering Little Evidence
The Trump administration clearly sees the Compliance Report as a tool to provide justification for shedding treaties.
Read MoreA Decade After Signing, New START Treaty Is Working
By Hans M. Kristensen On this day, ten years ago, U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitri A. Medvedev signed the New START treaty during a ceremony in Prague. The treaty capped the number of strategic missiles and heavy bombers the two countries could possess to 800, with no more than 700 launchers and 1,550 […]
Read MoreCount-Down Begins For No-Brainer: Extend New START Treaty
By Matt Korda and Hans M. Kristensen One year from today, on February 5, 2021, the New START treaty will expire, unless the United States and Russia act to extend the last nuclear arms control agreement for an additional five years. No matter your political orientation, treaty extension is a no-brainer – for at least […]
Read MoreUS Deploys New Low-Yield Nuclear Submarine Warhead
By William M. Arkin* and Hans M. Kristensen The US Navy has now deployed the new W76-2 low-yield Trident submarine warhead. The first ballistic missile submarine scheduled to deploy with the new warhead was the USS Tennessee (SSBN-734), which deployed from Kings Bay Submarine Base in Georgia during the final weeks of 2019 for a […]
Read MoreChina’s New DF-26 Missile Shows Up At Base In Eastern China
By Hans M. Kristensen Pictures taken recently by Maxar Technologies’ satellites show a large number of launchers for the DF-26 intermediate-range missile operating at a training site approximately 9 kilometers (5.7 miles) south of Qingzhou City in China’s Shandong Province. This is the first time the DF-26 has been seen operating in the area and […]
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