India vs Pakistan: Who has more nuclear bombs and what is China up to?

The nine nuclear-armed nations of the world, including the US, Russia, France, China, India and Pakistan, continued to modernise their nuclear arsenals in 2023, says a recent SIPRI report

India's nuclear warheads numbered slightly higher than Pakistan's as of January this year, Swedish think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said on Monday.

The SIPRI report said that the world's nine nuclear-armed states -- the United States (US), Russia, the United Kingdom (UK), France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel -- continued to modernise their nuclear arsenals in 2023, with several of them deploying new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapon systems that same year.

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How many nuclear bombs does India have?

 

The report said that India's 'stored' nuclear warheads stood at 172 in January this year, slightly above Pakistan's 170.

The report said that India's nuclear arsenal saw a small expansion in 2023, adding that both India and Pakistan also continued to develop new types of nuclear delivery systems.

"While Pakistan remains the main focus of India's nuclear deterrent, India appears to be placing growing emphasis on longer-range weapons, including those capable of reaching targets throughout China," the report said.

The think-tank also said that India, Pakistan and North Korea were pursuing the capability to deploy multiple warheads on ballistic missiles -- known as Multiple Independently-targetable Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) technology.

The US, the UK, Russia, France, and, more recently, China already possess this capability.

India joined this elite club of nations on March 11 with the first successful flight test of an Agni-5 ballistic missile armed with MIRVs.

ALSO READ: India's MIRV-tipped Agni-5 missile test: All your questions answered

The SIPRI report added that the proliferation of MIRV capabilities would enable a rapid potential increase in deployed warheads, as well as the possibility for nuclear-armed nations to threaten the destruction of significantly more targets.

How many nuclear bombs does China have?SIPRI's analysis also said that the number of China's nuclear warheads increased from 410 in January 2023 to 500 in January 2024, adding that Beijing's nuclear arsenal was expected to keep growing.

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A news agency quoted Hans M Kristensen, Associate Senior Fellow with SIPRI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme and Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), saying, "China is expanding its nuclear arsenal faster than any other country."

However, the report said that China's nuclear warhead stockpile was still expected to remain much smaller than that of either Russia or the US.

"But, in nearly all of the nuclear-armed states there are either plans or a significant push to increase nuclear forces," Kristensen added.

China joins the US-Russia club

The report also said that out of the total global inventory of an estimated 12,121 nuclear warheads in January 2024, an estimated 2,100 were kept in a state of high operational alert on ballistic missiles, with nearly all of them belonging to Russia or the US. However, it added that for the first time, China was also believed to have kept some of its warheads on high operational alert.

According to the report, out of this total global inventory, about 9,585 warheads were kept in military stockpiles.

While an estimated 3,904 of those warheads were deployed with aircraft and missiles -- 60 more than in January 2023 -- the rest were in central storage.

What about the US and Russia?

The SIPRI report said that Russia and the US together possess almost 90 per cent of all nuclear weapons.
 

The report said that while the size of their respective stockpiles appears to have remained relatively stable in 2023, Russia was estimated to have deployed around 36 more warheads with operational forces than in January 2023.

ALSO READ: Russia could deploy missiles in striking distance of West, says Putin

In a worrying development, the report added that transparency regarding nuclear forces had declined in both countries in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

(With inputs from PTI) 

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