Nuclear arsenals are expected to grow over the next decade for the first time since the Cold War, a European think tank said on Monday.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said on Monday that despite a marginal decrease in the number of nuclear warheads in 2021, the nuclear stockpiles held by the nine nuclear-armed states, which include the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea, will continue to modernize and likely increase in the next decade.
IRAN ‘NUCLEAR PROVOCATIONS’ MAY FORCE BIDEN INTO TRUMP’S MAXIMUM PRESSURE STRATEGY
“If the nuclear-armed states take no immediate and concrete action on disarmament, then the global inventory of nuclear warheads could soon begin to increase for the first time since the Cold War,” said Matt Korda, a researcher with the Weapons of Mass Destruction Program at SIPRI and the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists.
“All of the nuclear-armed states are increasing or upgrading their arsenals, and most are sharpening nuclear rhetoric and the role nuclear weapons play in their military strategies,” added Wilfred Wan, director of SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Program, in a press release. “This is a very worrying trend.”
Over 90% of all nuclear weapons in the world are held by Russia and the U.S., 6,255 and 5,550, respectively, around 2,000 of which are kept in a state of high operational alert.
Declines in Russian and American warhead inventories in 2021 were due to the dismantling of warheads that had been retired from military service several years ago. SIPRI notes that the New START Treaty, extended in 2021 thru February 2026 by the Biden administration and Russia, does not limit total nonstrategic nuclear warhead inventories.
The seven other nuclear nations are either actively developing and deploying or planning to develop or deploy new weapon systems in the coming years, according to SIPRI.
China is in the process of building over 300 new missile silos and has received delivery of new mobile launchers and submarines, where nuclear warheads are thought to have been deployed in 2021, the think tank said.
The U.K. announced last year that it would increase the ceiling on its total warhead stockpile, a reversal of decades of reductions, and no longer publicly disclose figures for the country’s operational nuclear weapon stockpile, deployed warheads, or deployed missiles.
France is developing a third-generation nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, and India and Pakistan are expanding their nuclear arsenals and developing new types of nuclear delivery systems in 2021. Israel, which does not publicly acknowledge holding nuclear weapons, is also thought to be updating its nuclear arsenal.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
SIPRI estimates that North Korea has now assembled up to 20 warheads and possesses enough material for 45-55 warheads. U.S. and South Korean officials believe North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is preparing to conduct the country’s first nuclear weapons test since September 2017.
SIPRI estimates that 12,705 nuclear warheads are held by nuclear nations since the start of 2022.
