By Hans M. Kristensen With the ink barely dry on the New START Treaty, Jeff Smith at the Center for Public Integrity reports that the Obama administration has determined that the United States can meet its national and international security requirements with 1,000-1,100 deployed strategic nuclear warheads – 450-550 warheads less than planned under the […]
The United States and Russia have significantly reduced their nuclear arsenals since the end of the Cold War. Russia and the United States currently hold more than 90 percent of the world’s total inventory of nuclear warheads. What can nuclear weapons states do to keep reducing their nuclear weapons stockpiles?
By Hans M. Kristensen Despite enormous reductions of their nuclear arsenals since the Cold War, the United States and Russia retain more than 9,100 warheads in their military stockpiles. Another 7,000 retired – but still intact – warheads are awaiting dismantlement, for a total inventory of more than 16,000 nuclear warheads. This is more than […]
A country with few natural resources, first Japan began to develop nuclear power technologies in 1954. Nuclear energy assisted with Japanese economic development and reconstruction post World War II. However, with the fear of lethal ash and radioactive fallout and the lingering effects from the 2011 accident at Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, there are many concerns related to Japanese nonproliferation, security and nuclear policy.
Air Force personnel perform New START Treaty inspection training on a Minuteman III ICBM payload section at Minot AFB in 2011. Nearly two years into the treaty, there have been few reductions of U.S. deployed strategic nuclear forces. . By Hans M. Kristensen The U.S. State Department today released the full (unclassified) and detailed aggregate […]
The first contract was signed yesterday for the development of the guided tail kit that will increase the accuracy of the B61 nuclear bomb. This conceptual drawing illustrates the principle of adding a guided tail kit assembly to the gravity bomb. . By Hans M. Kristensen The U.S. Air Force’s new precision-guided nuclear bomb B61-12 […]
Linton Brooks and I discussed nuclear modernization at a November 13 panel organized by BASIC. . By Hans M. Kristensen BASIC invited me to discuss nuclear weapons modernization with Linton Brooks at a Strategic Dialogue panel held at the Capitol Hill Club on November 13, 2012. We’re still waiting for the official transcript, but BASIC […]
The escalating confrontation between the United States and Iran over the latter’s nuclear program has triggered much debate about what actions should be taken to ensure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon. How might certain actions against Iran affect the global economy?
What are the major national security threats facing the United States, and what can the next president do to prepare for a potential disaster? Three days after the 2012 national election, FAS hosted a symposium featuring policy experts who provided recommendations (in memo form) to the Obama administration on how to best respond to catastrophic threats to national security.
During a recent visit to Germany I did an interview with the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk magazine FAKT on the status of the B61 nuclear bomb modernization. . By Hans M. Kristensen Last week, I was in Berlin to testify before the Disarmament Subcommittee of the German Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on the future of the U.S. […]
At the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis blockade, unknown to the United States, the Soviet Union already had short-range nuclear weapons on the island, such as this FKR-1 cruise missile, that would most likely have been used against a U.S. invasion. . By Hans M. Kristensen and Robert S. Norris Fifty years ago the […]
What’s wrong with this picture? Despite NATO’s call for greater nuclear transparency, old-fashioned nuclear secrecy prevents media access to the Nuclear Planning Group. . By Hans M. Kristensen Less than six months after NATO’s Deterrence and Defense Posture Review (DDPR) adopted at the Chicago Summit called for greater transparency of non-strategic nuclear force postures in […]