Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 6th. The US government announced the number of nuclear warheads on the 5th: As of September 2020, the United States has 3,750 nuclear warheads.
The previous U.S. administration suspended the release of the number of nuclear warheads, and the current administration resumed the release of this data. Analysts believe that the Biden administration's move will help the US and Russia negotiate arms control.
On June 16, US President Biden (left) and Russian President Putin met at Villa Lagranger in Geneva, Switzerland. ( Xinhua News Agency photo by Dennis Barrybs)
The US State Department html on the 25th issued a briefing called "Transparency of the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Reserve", announcing the number of "recently declassified" U.S. nuclear warheads.
According to Associated Press , the last time the United States announced the number of nuclear warheads was in March 2018. The Trump administration released data at that time: As of September 2017, the United States had 3,822 nuclear warheads. Since then, the Trump administration has not disclosed the number of nuclear warheads anymore. The briefing on
5 said that "as of September 2020, the United States had 3,750 nuclear warheads", which was about 88% lower than the historical highest value of 31,255 in 1967 and about 83% lower than the 22,217 in 1989. The
briefing shows that in 2018 and 2019, the United States had 3785 and 3805 nuclear warheads respectively.
On July 22, 2017, the first ship of the U.S. Navy's latest generation "Ford" class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the first ship of the U.S. Navy's latest generation "Ford" class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, was officially commissioned and put into service at the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia, USA. The picture shows a Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey rotorcraft landing on the USS Ford aircraft carrier. (Photo by Yin Bogu, Xinhua News Agency)
According to the briefing, the reserve of nuclear warheads announced by the United States includes strategic and non-strategic nuclear weapons , nuclear warheads that can be deployed in a short time and nuclear warheads stored in warehouses and in non-operating states, excluding retired and to be dismantled. The
briefing said that the United States has removed 711 nuclear warheads since September 30, 2017, and there are about 2,000 retired nuclear warheads to be removed.
Statistics released by the Stockholm International Peace Institute in Sweden in January this year show that the United States has 5,550 nuclear warheads, Russia has 6,255, France has 290, Britain has 225, India has 156. The total number of nuclear warheads between the United States and Russia accounts for 90% of the global total.
AFP commented that the Biden administration is starting to restart the US-Russian arms control dialogue that was at a deadlock during Trump's administration, and it is a matter of restoring the number of nuclear warheads announced in this trend.
During Trump's administration, the United States withdrew from the U.S.-Russia's " Medium-range Missile Treaty" and did not reach an agreement with the Russian side on extending the U.S.-Russia's " New Strategic Weapon Reduction Treaty" .
On June 22, 2020, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov (second from left) arrived in Vienna, Austria to participate in the US-Russia arms control dialogue. (Photo by Georges Schneider, Xinhua News Agency)
The New Strategic Weapon Reduction Treaty was signed by the United States and Russia in 2010. It aims to limit the number of strategic nuclear weapons deployed by the two countries. It will come into effect on February 5, 2011 and is scheduled to expire on February 5, 2021.
The Biden administration and Russia reached an agreement on the extension of the "New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty" for five years in February this year. Both sides intend to use the five years to agree on a new arms control treaty.
Last week, Russia and the United States held a bilateral strategic stability dialogue on Geneva, Switzerland. The delegations of both sides were led by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Riabkov and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman respectively, and exchanged views on strategic stability, arms control prospects and reducing the risk of conflict.
Hans Christensen, director of the Nuclear Information Research Program at the United States Federation of Scientists, said on the 5th that it would be "wise to do" for the Biden administration to resume the announcement of the number of nuclear warheads, which will be "helpful" to the US in arms control negotiations and next year's "HTM1 Non-Proliferation Treaty on Nuclear Weapons " State party review meeting.
The above brief released by the Biden administration said: "Improving the transparency of the US nuclear arsenal is of importance for efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation and reduce armaments, including commitments made under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons." (Wu Baoshu)
