U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues

Abstract

Even though the United States is in the process of reducing the number of warheads deployed on its long-range missiles and bombers, consistent with the terms of the New START Treaty, it also plans to develop new delivery systems for deployment over the next 20-30 years. The 115th Congress will continue to review these programs, and the funding requested for them, during the annual authorization and appropriations process. During the Cold War, the U.S. nuclear arsenal contained many types of delivery vehicles for nuclear weapons. The longer-range systems, which included long-range missiles based on U.S. territory, long-range missiles based on submarines, and heavy bombers that could threaten Soviet targets from their bases in the United States, are known as strategic nuclear delivery vehicles. At the end of the Cold War, in 1991, the United States deployed more than 10,000 warheads on these delivery vehicles. That number has declined to less than 1,500 deployed warheads today, and is slated to be 1,550 deployed warheads in 2018, after the New START Treaty completes implementation.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 10, 2017
Accession Number
AD1027353

Entities

People

  • Amy F. Woolf

Organizations

  • Congressional Research Service

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Arms Control
  • Arms Control Treaties
  • Ballistic Missile Submarines
  • Ballistic Missiles
  • Boats
  • Department Of State
  • Fleet Ballistic Missiles
  • Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
  • National Security
  • Naval Operations
  • Navy
  • Ohio Class
  • Prompt Global Strike
  • Rocket Engines
  • Rockets
  • Warfare

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Missile Defense Systems.
  • Public Financial Management and Budgeting