Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor Vol. 25 No. 39
Visit Archives | Return to Issue
PDF
Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor
Article 3 of 9
October 08, 2021

U.S. Warhead Stockpile at 3,750, State, NNSA Say

By ExchangeMonitor

There were 3,750 nuclear warheads in the U.S. stockpile as of Sept. 2020 the State Department and National Nuclear Security Administration said Tuesday, down more than 250 since the final year of the Barack Obama administration.

State and the semi-autonomous Department of Energy nuclear weapons agency disclosed the count after Bonnie Jenkins, under secretary for arms control and international security, spoke at a United Nations First Committee side event in New York. Jill Hruby, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), joined Jenkins at the event.

Data released by state and NNSA Tuesday afternoon provided a stockpile count that dates back to 1962 and includes every year between then and 2020. While the overall count has fallen overall since 2016, when there were 4,018 warheads in the stockpile, the figure drifted up and down throughout the Donald Trump administration.

“Today, as an act of good faith, and a tangible, public demonstration of the U.S. commitment to transparency, we will present data which documents our own record of continued progress toward the achievement of the goals of the” Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Jenkins said in prepared remarks. “As we, along with the United Kingdom and France, demonstrate transparency about our nuclear stockpiles, we call on other states with nuclear weapons to do likewise”

In accordance with the New START Treaty between the U.S. and Russia, the U.S. deploys no more than 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads — essentially, weapons that can be delivered globally and which pack enough power, if used in great number, to eliminate an adversary’s capability to wage war, along with much of its population —  across 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers, while possessing no more than 800 deployed and non-deployed bombers, ICBM, and submarine-launched ballistic missile launchers.

Comments are closed.

Partner Content
Social Feed

NEW: Via public records request, I’ve been able to confirm reporting today that a warrant has been issued for DOE deputy asst. secretary of spent fuel and waste disposition Sam Brinton for another luggage theft, this time at Las Vegas’s Harry Reid airport. (cc: @EMPublications)

DOE spent fuel lead Brinton accused of second luggage theft.



by @BenjaminSWeiss, confirming today's reports with warrant from Las Vegas Metro PD.

Waste has been Emplaced! 🚮

We have finally begun emplacing defense-related transuranic (TRU) waste in Panel 8 of #WIPP.

Read more about the waste emplacement here: https://wipp.energy.gov/wipp_news_20221123-2.asp

Load More