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New Delhi. Nine countries with nuclear weapons, including the US, Russia, Britain, France, China, India and Pakistan, are continuing to modernize their nuclear arsenals. This claim was made by Sweden’s leading think-tank SIPRI on Monday. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has said in its annual report that many countries with nuclear weapons have deployed new nuclear weapons or systems capable of carrying nuclear weapons in 2022. According to SIPRI estimates, the size of China’s nuclear arsenal increased in January 2022, as the number of its nuclear warheads increased from 350 to 410 in January 2023, and the increase is expected to continue, the report said.
By the end of the decade, China could potentially have at least as many intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as the US or Russia, the report said. It will depend on how China shapes its defense forces.” SIPRI said India and Pakistan seem to be expanding their nuclear arsenals and both countries have planned to acquire new types of nuclear weapons in 2022. Introduced and continued to develop systems capable of carrying weapons. “China has begun a significant expansion of its nuclear arsenal,” said Hans M. Christensen, Associate Senior Fellow, SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Program and Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS).
While Pakistan (Pakistan ) remains the main focus of India’s nuclear deterrence, India appears to be pushing for long-range weapons, including those capable of reaching targets in China. SIPRI said, ‘Nine nuclear-weapon states – the US, Russia, the UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and Israel – are continuing to modernize their nuclear arsenals and by 2022 Many deployed new nuclear weapons or systems capable of carrying nuclear warheads. “Out of a total global inventory of 12,512 weapons estimated in January 2023, approximately 9,576 were in military stockpiles for potential use,” the report said. There are 86 more than in 2022.
SIPRI said, ‘Of those, an estimated 3,844 weapons were deployed with missiles and aircraft and about 2,000 (almost all of which were from Russia or the US) were placed on high operational alert status, meaning they were They were mounted on the missile or they are kept at the airbases where nuclear bombers are deployed. It has been said that about 90 percent of all nuclear weapons are with Russia and America. The report noted that the size of their respective nuclear arsenals remained relatively stable in 2022, although there has been a decline in transparency regarding nuclear forces in both countries in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“In addition to usable nuclear warheads, Russia and the US each have more than 1,000 warheads removed from military service, which they are gradually phasing out,” the report said. Nuclear arms control and disarmament diplomacy have suffered a major setback following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. “We are heading into one of the most dangerous periods in human history,” said SIPRI director Dan Smith. “It is imperative that world governments act to defuse geopolitical tensions, slow the arms race, Find ways to do and cooperate to combat the consequences of environmental degradation and rising global hunger.’
