China’s new DF-21C missile launcher shows itself in Western China. Image: GoogleEarth . By Hans M. Kristensen The latest Pentagon report on Chinese military forces recently triggered sensational headlines in the Indian news media that China had deployed new nuclear missiles close to the Indian border. The news reports got it wrong, but new […]
By Hans M. Kristensen The next steps in European security should include additional reductions in the number short-range nuclear weapons in Europe, according to a video statement issued by NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen: “We also have to make progress sooner or later in our efforts to reduce the number of short-range nuclear weapons […]
. By Hans M. Kristensen Similar to Russia’s troubled Bulava sea-launched ballistic missile, the Pentagon’s latest report on China’s military power reveals that Chinese efforts to develop a new sea-based nuclear missile have run into problems. Other nuclear force developments described in the Pentagon’s delayed annual report on China’s military power, now renamed Military and […]
Deliveries of arms through the Defense Department’s Foreign Military Sales Program (FMS) increased by nearly $700 million in fiscal year (FY) 2009, according to the most recent edition of the Annual Military Assistance Report. The report, which is often referred to as the “Section 655 Report,” is compiled each year by the Defense Department and […]
India-Pakistan nuclear competition on display again . By Hans M. Kristensen If Indian news reports (here, here, and here) are any indication, India has once again discovered that Pakistan might possess a few nuclear weapons more than India. This time the reports are based on an article Robert Norris and I published in the Bulletin […]
by Ivanka Barzashka and Thomas M. Rickers Coaxed by Turkey and Brazil, Iran seems to be actively pursuing fuel talks. France, Russia and the U.S. (also known as the Vienna Group) claim that they, too, are interested in a deal, even as the U.S. and EU passed their own tougher sanctions against the Islamic Republic […]
The men behind a decade and a half of U.S. strategic nuclear planning say the New START treaty will enhance American national security. . By Hans M. Kristensen Seven former commanders of U.S. nuclear strategic planning have endorsed the New START treaty and recommended early ratification by the U.S. Senate. In a letter sent to […]
I have not written here on the New START treaty, in part because everything that can be said has been said, well, almost everything…see below. The treaty is in no way revolutionary. I don’t think Reagan would bat an eyelash at it. Yet, while there is widespread bipartisan support for the treaty, including almost all […]
by Ivanka Barzashka In response to sanctions, Iran’s parliament adopted the Nuclear Achievement Protection Bill on July 18. Among other things, the law requires the government to continue 20 percent enrichment and provide fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR). Although this aspect of the legislation has largely fallen below the news radar, it raises […]
By Hans M. Kristensen The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has sent Congress the FY 2011 Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan (SSMP) with new information about what the administration plans to spend on maintaining and modernizing nuclear weapons and facilities over the next 15-20 years. FAS and UCS got hold of the unclassified sections of […]
Missile Watch A publication of the FAS Arms Sales Monitoring Project Vol. 3, Issue 2 June 2010 Editor: Matt Schroeder Contributing Author: Scoville Fellow Matt Buongiorno Contents: Global News: Survey of black market prices for shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles reveals large differences in missile prices Afghanistan: No shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles in seized Afghan arms caches, confirms […]
The global trade in ammunition for small arms and light weapons is worth an estimated $4.3 billion, according to a comprehensive new study released today. Findings from the study, which is co-authored by Matt Schroeder of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), appears as a chapter in Small Arms Survey 2010: Gangs, Groups, and Guns. […]