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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
By Hans M. Kristensen The world’s nuclear weapon states possess an estimated 22,600 nuclear weapons, of which more than 7,500 are deployed. This and much more according to a chapter I co-authored in the latest yearbook from the Swedish International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Copyright prevents us from making a copy of the chapter available here, […]
by Alicia Godsberg The NPT Review Conference ended last Friday with the adoption by consensus of a Final Document that includes both a review of commitments and a forward looking action plan for nuclear disarmament, non-proliferation and the promotion of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. In the early part of last week it was […]
Britain says it has 225 nuclear warheads for its Trident submarine fleet. . By Hans M. Kristensen The new British government today followed the French and U.S. examples by disclosing its total military stockpile of nuclear weapons. Foreign Secretary William Hague told the House of Commons that “the total number of warheads” in the “overall […]
By Hans M. Kristensen Clark Murdock and John Warden with the Center for Strategic and International Studies invited me to speak today at their Global Security Forum. My co-panelists were General Larry Welch (USAF, ret.) and Morton Halperin. The question posed to us was whether the United States should, in a proliferated world, continue to […]
by Alicia Godsberg Yesterday FAS premiered our documentary Paths To Zero at the NPT RevCon. The screening was a great success and there was a very engaging conversation afterward between the audience and Ivan Oelrich, who was there to promote the film. As a result of some suggestions, we are hoping to translate the narration […]