Gen. V.K. Singh . By Hans M. Kristensen India’s nuclear weapons “are not for warfighting,” the chief of India’s army said Sunday at the Army Day Parade. The weapons have “a strategic capability and that is where it should end,” General V. K. Singh declared. The rejection of nuclear warfighting ideas is a welcoming development […]
By Hans M. Kristensen The Obama administration today presented a new defense strategy that it says is needed to realign U.S. military forces and doctrine with the reductions in combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the new fiscal constraints created by the financial crisis. There are few details in the new strategy for how […]
The Obama administration gets a medal for disclosing its New START treaty numbers. . By Hans M. Kristensen [updated 12 Dec 2011 with new bomber information] Anyone familiar with my writings knows that I don’t hand out medals to the nuclear weapon states very often. But the Obama administration deserves one after the U.S. State Department’s […]
A study from Georgetown University incorrectly suggests that China has 3,000 nuclear weapons.The estimate is off by an order of magnitude. . By Hans M. Kristensen Only the Chinese government knows how many nuclear weapons China has. As in most other nuclear weapon states, the number is a closely held secret. Even so, it is […]
Today, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a critical report that concluded while some of the suspected secret nuclear work by Iran may have peaceful purposes, others are specific to building nuclear weapons.
New article published in Arms Control Today . By Hans M. Kristensen The latest issue of Arms Control Today includes a new article by Robert Norris and myself about the nuclear targeting review that is currently underway in the Obama administration. In ordering the review, formally known as the Post-NPR Review, President Obama has asked the […]
By Katie Colten and Hans Kristensen [Modifed] Today, one of the largest weapons in the United States nuclear weapons arsenal, the B53, will be dismantled at the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas. Developed during the Cold War and deployed in 1962, this bomb weighs as much as a minivan and has an explosive yield of nine megatons, […]
New START aggregate numbers have been published by the United States and Russia. . By Hans M. Kristensen The latest New START treaty aggregate numbers of strategic arms, which was quietly released by the State Department earlier last week, shows modest reductions and important changes in U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear forces. Most surprisingly, the […]
By Matt Schroeder As the trial against alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout gets underway, we thought the following documents from the case might be of interest: (1) Handwritten notes that Bout reportedly took during the meeting in Thailand. The notes include short-hand references to various weapons, including “AA” or anti-aircraft (believed to be a reference […]
Ali Vaez and Charles Ferguson co-authored a report analyzing options for establishing an enhanced safeguards system for the Iranian nuclear program.
FAS joined 48 organizations in signing a letter to United States Representatives asking them to cosign Representative Markey’s letter to members of the Super Committee. Markey’s letter urges Super Committee members to increase U.S. security by reducing spending on outdated and unaffordable nuclear weapons programs. Additionally, this support letter offers specific suggestions to Congress on […]
By Darren Ruch, 1st Lt, MA ANG USAF* In 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, the United States was armed with a stockpile of over 18,300 nuclear weapons.[1] Since then, the US Air Force (USAF) has conducted a range of military operations while maintaining a nuclear deterrence […]