 |
WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US administration revealed that the United States (US) had 3,750 nuclear warheads as of Sept 30, 2020, reversing former President Donald Trump’s decision to rank the numbers on the nuclear arsenal.
“The United States is releasing newly declassified information on the US nuclear arsenal to update the information released in September 2017,” the State Department said in a statement.
“Transparency about the arsenals of nuclear states is important for non-proliferation and disarmament efforts, including commitments to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),” added the US diplomacy.
Since Sept 30, 2017, the US has continued to modernise its nuclear arsenal, dismantling 711 warheads, but reducing the total number by just 72, according to new official figures.
The 3,750 US nuclear warheads represent an 88 percent reduction in the US nuclear arsenal from its peak of 31,255 in 1967, at the height of the Cold War.
The US arsenal includes active warheads (operational and deployed, or rapidly deployable) and inactive (non-operational and in storage), but not so-called discontinued warheads, considered obsolete. In addition, it includes around 2,000 warheads waiting to be dismantled.
The numbers are known at a time when President Joe Biden’s administration agreed with Russia to set up a working group on future arms control measures by the two major nuclear powers.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), whose numbers include discontinued warheads, Russia had 6,255 nuclear weapons in January 2021, against 5,550 for the United States and only 350 for China. — NNN-AGENCIES
