The US government has reluctantly agreed to give a more precise accounting of its nuclear weapons. But the picture is far from complete.
Beginning in February of 2018, the U.S. will have “approximately” 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles (down from 450); 240 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (down about 50); and 60 nuclear-capable heavy bomber fighters (B-2As and B-52Hs), converting some 30 B-52s to a non-nuclear role (they will still be heavy bombers).
The caveat is that this is something the US doesn’t do now! So at least we are moving in the right direction.
As of 2018, that number will be somewhere around 1,550. Enough to bomb every major capitol and city in the world three times over.
The good news (if there is any) is that the number of viable nuclear warheads in the world, at least on the US side – which maintains the largest stockpile in the world will go down – eventually.
President Obama has prioritized nuclear arms reduction, and the Senate in 2010 ratified a treaty with Russia that reduces to 700 the number of nuclear delivery vehicles currently available on the US side – not counting the extra 100 or so nuclear “platforms” (the exact number they tell me is a secret) currently in “storage”. .
Of these – the least efficient “guns” are the silo-based ICBMs, which are also the oldest and most expensive to maintain. The plan however, from what I have been able to gather, is to keep most of the ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) at fixed sites around the US.
See report: Fixed site ICBM’s “increase chance” of nuclear war because they leave very little lead time to verify a false warning, report says https://groundreport.com/fixed-site-icbms-increase-chance-of-nuclear-war-because-they-leave-very-little-lead-time-to-verify-a-false-warning-report-says
An Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a minimum range of more than 5,500 kilometres (3,400 mi). ICBM’s usually carry ” multiple nuclear warheads.”
Modern ICBMs typically carry multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), each of which carries a separate nuclear warhead, allowing a single missile to hit multiple targets.
ICBM’s are used primarily to target major cities and population centers around the world. The US unfortunately leads the way in having the most ICBM’s in its nuclear arsenal.
With this being said most of the information surrounding US nuclear war planning and nuclear weapons inventories remains top secret.
In addition the US maintains the largest strategic stockpile of what they call “battlefield nuclear weapons”, which have “yields,” or explosive power equivalent to, or in excess of 300 tons of TNT.
Most of which are pre-positioned in storage sites and bunkers across the world, including Europe.
Their locations, types, and numbers remain highly classified and the Pentagon refuses to discuss, talk about or disclose their locations.
If there is any positive news in all this – perhaps it is that the world now will be seeing a slight reduction of such devastating weapons.
It doesn’t however eliminate them completely and generations to come will have to continue to live under the nuclear threat at least for the conceivable future.
See related article: US Nuclear War Plan Updated Amidst Nuclear Policy Review http://blogs.fas.org/security/2013/04/oplan8010-12/
See article: The Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan (JSCP) Nuclear Supplement http://www.nukestrat.com/us/jcs/jscp.htm
See also: United States cloaks its non-strategic nuclear forces in a veil of secrecy https://groundreport.com/united-states-cloaks-its-non-strategic-nuclear-forces-in-a-veil-of-secrecy/