U.S., Russian Stockpiles Dip in Latest New START Declaration

After spiking in the fall, the size of U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles has dipped again according to the latest New START Treaty data released by the State Department yesterday. The April 1 declaration revealed that the U.S. counted 1,597 strategic deployed warheads as of March 1, down 45 warheads from six months ago. The size of Russia’s stockpile also dipped to 1,582, down 61 warheads from 1,643 in the fall, which represented a high since the treaty entered into force in 2011. Russia’s counted stockpile (the treaty uses complicated counting rules and does consider tactical nuclear weapons) is still considerably higher than its low of 1,400 18 months ago. Both countries must be under the treaty’s 1,550-warhead cap by 2018.

 

The number of delivery vehicles (bombers, ICBMs and submarine-launched ballistic missiles) declared by each country also decreased slightly. The U.S. said it had 785 delivery vehicles, down nine from six months ago, and Russia said 515 delivery vehicles were deployed, a decrease of 13 compared to six months ago. The U.S. said it had 898 deployed and non-deployed delivery vehicles, while Russia said it had 890.