World Balance of Nuke Power (1st quarter 2014)

[Pangu]

We used to have 31,000

Was there a wholesale discount for nukes or something?

Glad you guys brought it down to, er, a saner level.

 

[500]

In every "conspiracy theory" Israel have 200 nukes, why just 80?

@500

No one knows, that's why anyone can write whatever he likes.

 

[vtnsx]

We used to have 31,000

im pretty sure they still have those but disassembled and when they are ready to use all that they just have to put them together.

 

[dexter]

What is that US going to do with 7300 war heads?????

They will bring freedom

 

[Usama78]

How "authentic" is that... But Ok, these are the mostly used figures....
I don't really think the numbers of nukes even matter. Even only 10 nukes would a avoid any country to attack the nuke power... What the number matters for is? increase worries of the "UNITED NATIONS"

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

im pretty sure they still have those but disassembled and when they are ready to use all that they just have to put them together.

I think many are small so they probably are converting them into something a stealth drone can carry.

 

[nair]

They will bring freedom

From human race?

 

[Menace2Society]

We need more nukes. When aliens invade we are going to need them.

 

[AMCA]

Very balanced indeed..

 

[OCguy]

Our American friend needs to donate their nuke to us. LOL In all seriousness, put an asterisk on China. Nobody knows how many nuke we really got. All speculation from hundred to thousand.

The estimates put out by think-tanks and government entities are far from wild speculation. While underestimated nukes wouldn't surprise anyone should it be true, that China has a tunnel system storing more nuclear weapons, the high end of the estimates are very unlikely.

Unlike other weapons or programs, there are relatively easy ways to indirectly estimate production activity of warheads. This is by tracking the rare materials needed, the dual-use production equipment required to enrich nuclear materials, etc.

I don't doubt that along with the delivery systems, China is undergoing a massive expansion of its land-based warheads. The sea-based deterrent is already under way with new subs, though those are easier to count and estimate.

The US keeps many nukes on standby, meaning not deployed. Reserves are needed during stockpile-wide maintenance and upgrades, so that you can rotate out a certain number at a time, but not lose deterrent ability.

The US nuclear triad inventory has to be able to support:

- Deployed European warheads,

- Gravity bombs and cruise-missiles on B-2 Spirit, B-52, and B-1 Lancer (if needed), F-15E, F16, and soon to be F-35 aircraft

- Hardened silo-based Minuteman III ICBM force

- 14 Ohio class submarines with 24 Trident II pods each

Then you have to remember that a single MIRV-equipped missile can have 14 independent nuclear devices that separate during re-entry.

The point of the Strategic Deterrent isn't to "win" a full nuclear exchange, it is to be strong enough to convince an adversary who is contemplating a first-strike, that doing so would be suicide, thereby preventing an exchange in the first place. (Or as most people on a defense forum would probably know, Mutually Assured Destruction, MAD)