“The United States has more nuclear weapons than any other country. This was accomplished, including a complete modernization and renovation of the existing arsenal, during my first term. Due to its tremendous destructive powerI found it very difficult to do it, but I had no choice! Russia occupies second place and China, a distant third place, but the situation will equalize in five years.” With this message he announced Donald Trump the order to the Pentagon to begin “immediately” testing the US nuclear arsenal, just after the president of Russia, Vladimir Putindirected from the Kremlin land, sea and air maneuvers of the nuclear forces that included the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of up to 12,000 kilometers.
Are the data that Trump gives about the US nuclear capacity compared to that of Russia and China true? A look at the latest data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a reference organization in the sector, allows us to know the nuclear power of these two powers and the rest of the countries that have nuclear weapons. Using data from January 2025, it is estimated that worldwide there are around 12,241 nuclear warheads in totalof which some 9,614 are available for military usenails 3,912 are deployed with missiles and aircraftand the rest are in central warehouses.
There are nine countries with nuclear weapons on the entire planet, but only among The United States and Russia own 90% of the global arsenal. Between deployed and stored, Russia had at the beginning of the year 5,459 nuclear warheads and the US had 5.177meaning that the White House was slightly below the Kremlin in overall numbers. It is important to emphasize that the data corresponds to January 2025 and, therefore, may have changed in recent months.
Now, what Trump does surpass Putin in is the number of nuclear warheads deployed at this time: 1,770 from the US and 1,718 from Russia. On the other hand, the Russian administration has more stored warheads than the American: 2,591 from Russia and 1,930 from the United States. And as for resentationthe US has dismantled 1,477 nuclear warheads and Russia, 1,150. If we discount the weapons already withdrawn, the arsenal at Moscow’s disposal (4,309) is still higher than Washington’s (3,700).
The breakdown of the nuclear arsenal of both powers reflects American superiority in strategic nuclear forces (3,500 versus 2,832) and, on the contrary, the Russian advantage in non-strategic nuclear forces (1,477 versus 200). Among the US strategic weapons, the 2,720 ballistic missiles (1,920 in submarines and 800 on land) and the 780 bomber planes stand out. Russia has 2,246 ballistic missiles (1,254 on land and 992 on submarines) and 586 bomber aircraft.
If a US nuclear test were carried out, it would mean the end of the moratorium on these tests that the country has maintained for more than 30 years. The last nuclear test carried out by the US took place on September 23, 1992 in the state of Nevada. That year, the Senate and House of Representatives approved the suspension of nuclear testing, initially for a period of nine months but with the goal of ending all US atomic testing by September 1996.
Although the presidents George Bush y Bill Clinton threatened to veto the measure, the moratorium has been extended since then. What the US has done are several dozen experiments known as subcriticalwhich do not trigger nuclear chain reactions or produce atomic yields. These tests are designed to verify the safety and effectiveness of the nuclear arsenal, and are within the limits established by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty of 1996.
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