Defense Primer: Strategic Nuclear Forces
Abstract
Since the early 1960s the United States has maintained a triad of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles. These include long-range land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles(ICBMs), long-range submarine-launched ballistic missiles(SLBMs), and long-range heavy bombers equipped to carry nuclear-armed cruise missiles and nuclear-armed gravity bombs. The number of nuclear warheads carried on these delivery vehicles peaked in the late 1980s, at around 14,000warheads. It has been declining ever since, both as the United States complies with limits in U.S.-Russian arms control agreements and as it has changed requirements after the Cold War. As of February 2018, the United States had reduced its forces to comply with the New START Treaty, which entered into force in early 2011. Table 1 displays the U.S. forces that count under the treaty limits, as of September 1, 2020. These forces fall below the treaty limits of 1,550 deployed warheads on 700 deployed missiles due to maintenance schedules and operational requirements. An update released in March 2021 indicated that the United States had 1,357 warheads deployed on 651 missiles and bombers.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 12, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1152932
Entities
People
- Amy F. Woolf