STRATEGIC

64 Strategic Choices for a Turbulent World: In Pursuit of Security and Opportunity
Table 3.2
World Nuclear Forces, 2016
Country
Year of First
Nuclear Test
Deployed
Warheads a Other
Warheads Total 2016
United States 1945 1,930 5,070 7,000
Russia 1949 1,790 5,500 7,290
United Kingdom 1952 120 95 215
France 1960 280 20 300
China 1964 260 260
India 1974 100–120 100–120
Pakistan 1998 110–130 110–130
Israel 80 80
North Korea 2006 10 10
Total 4,120 11,235–11,275 15,355–15,395
SOURCE: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, “Global Nuclear
Weapons: Downsizing but Modernizing,” web page, June 13, 2016.
NOTE: All estimates are approximate and are as of January 2016. Totals do not
include figures for North Korea.
a Deployed means warheads placed on missiles or located on bases with operational
forces.
States are modernizing their nuclear arsenals, and 2,000 nuclear weapons
are on alert worldwide. North Korea’s efforts to develop morecapable
warheads and delivery systems are advancing, and Iran’s tenyear
commitment to suspend its nuclear program under the 2015 Joint
Comprehensive Action Plan remains under scrutiny.
That terrorists have not succeeded in accessing nuclear material is
an underappreciated triumph for the world’s governments. Yet there is
no room for complacency in light of reports that ISIS and other groups
are trying to get material for radiological bombs and the 2,000 metric
tons of “nuclear weapons useable material”—enriched uranium and
separated plutonium—known to remain in civilian and military facilities
around the world. 55 While most of this highly radioactive material
would be difficult for terrorists to steal—anyone who tried would
55 Office of the Press Secretary, “Fact Sheet: The Nuclear Security Summits: Securing the
World from Nuclear Terrorism,” The White House, Washington, D.C., March 29, 2016.