Increasing nuclear warheads globally, the US 'secretly' deploys them in 5 European countries, China expands its arsenal

On June 12, Alicia Sanders-Zakre, policy and research coordinator at the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), revealed that the US has secretly used about 150 nuclear warheads in European countries. Meanwhile, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) announced that the number of nuclear warheads has increased this year.

Mỹ bí mật triển khai 150 đầu đạn hạt nhân ở châu Âu

The number of nuclear weapons used continued to increase this year, including some US warheads in Europe that have not been made public. Illustrative photo. (Source: AP)

Sanders-Zakre said Washington has deployed nuclear weapons at air bases in at least five European countries. At a press conference, she affirmed that the US has not made any official announcement about this implementation.

According to her, although there is no public information regarding the US use of nuclear weapons in Europe, ICAN has discovered that nuclear weapons are deployed in five European countries, including Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Turkey.

At the same time, some independent experts have revealed that about 150 warheads are deployed at US air bases in the above countries.

On the same day, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released a report, confirming that as of January this year, China had added 60 warheads to its nuclear arsenal, bringing the total to 410 warheads in 12 months. This is the largest increase among the other nine nuclear-armed states.

Forecasting that China's arsenal will continue to grow, the report also stated that Beijing "is likely to possess the same number of intercontinental ballistic missiles as the United States or Russia by early this decade."

According to Hans Kristensen, a senior member of SIPRI, China pursues a “no first use” policy, meaning that nuclear weapons will only be used in the event of a nuclear attack on Beijing.

However, defense experts have said that when it completes its military modernization, China may abandon this policy.

In a recent SIPRI report, North Korea's arsenal is estimated to have grown from 25 to 30 warheads, and Pyongyang is likely to possess enough fissile material to produce 50-70 warheads.

In addition, SIPRI said, nuclear diplomacy and arms control have been disrupted due to a significant increase in the number of deployed nuclear warheads since Russia began its special military operation in February last year.

According to SIPRI, as of January 2023, the number of nuclear warheads deployed in the world increased by 86 units compared to the same period in 2022, of which the number of new warheads from the US and Russia accounted for the majority.

Specifically, the US increased the number of deployed warheads from 1,744 to 1,770, while Russia increased from 1,588 to 1,674. In addition, about 2,000 warheads in the arsenals of these two countries are on high alert.

According to statistics in the SIPRI report, the total number of nuclear weapons in the world at the beginning of 2023 was about 12,512 warheads, including 9,576 warheads in stockpiles.

The list of nuclear powers includes Russia, the United States, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel.

The US leads in the number of deployed warheads (1,770), followed by Russia (1,674), France (280) and the UK (120). However, Russia has the largest number of warheads in its stockpile (2,815), higher than the US's 1,938.

In 2022, the total number of US nuclear weapons remained unchanged (3,708), while Russia increased the number from 4,477 to 4,489 units.

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