Alissa Tabirian
NS&D Monitor
10/16/2015
The United States has reduced the number of its deployed strategic warheads below New START treaty limits, while Russia has increased its numbers in the same category, according to the latest aggregate State Department data on strategic offensive arms. In effect since 2011, New START requires each country by February 2018 to deploy no more than 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads; 700 ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers; and 800 deployed and nondeployed strategic launchers.
According to the data released on Oct. 1, the United States has 762 deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers, along with 1,538 deployed strategic warheads, while Russia has 526 and 1,648, respectively. This represents a drop for the U.S. and simultaneous increase by Russia since July 1, when the U.S. had 785 deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and bombers, along with 1,597 deployed warheads, and Russia had 515 and 1,582, respectively. Specifically, the U.S. dropped below the treaty’s nuclear warhead limits, while Russia surpassed them. Meanwhile, the number of deployed and nondeployed strategic launchers has remained the same at 898 for the U.S., while Russia dropped from 890 to 877 launchers.
Blake Narendra, spokesman for State Department’s Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance, said by email that the latest numbers “show that the United States and Russia both maintain large nuclear forces” and that “this increase was anticipated as the Russians replace older systems from the 1980s that are being retired and eliminated.”
“We have known for a long time about Russia’s modernization of its strategic nuclear arsenal,” Narendra said, adding, “We fully expect Russia to meet the New START Treaty central limits in accordance with the stipulated timeline of February 2018.” Narendra said the U.S. has confidence in the reported data “due to the Treaty’s robust verification regime that includes on-site inspections and biannual data exchanges—New START provides us knowledge of the number and location of Russia’s strategic nuclear forces at a time when we need it the most.”
