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Business Standard
an hour ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
India believed to have 'slightly expanded' nuclear arsenal in 2024: Report
Nearly all of the nine nuclear-armed states, including India and Pakistan, continued intensive nuclear modernisation programmes in 2024, upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions, according to a report by a global think-tank. India is believed to have once again "slightly expanded" its nuclear arsenal in 2024 and continued to develop new types of nuclear delivery systems, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a statement. Pakistan also continued to develop new delivery systems and "accumulate fissile material" in 2024, suggesting that its nuclear arsenal might expand over the coming decade, it said. The think-tank on Monday launched its annual assessment of the state of armaments, disarmament and international security in SIPRI Yearbook 2025. The statement on the release of its yearbook also makes a reference to the recent military conflict between India and Pakistan. The four-day military confrontation between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in May brought the two countries to the brink of full-scale war. The SIPRI Yearbook provided a country-wise assessment of the state of armaments, disarmament and international security. "Nearly all of the nine nuclear-armed states -- the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and Israel --continued intensive nuclear modernisation programmes in 2024, upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions," the statement said. Of the total global inventory of an estimated 12,241 warheads in January 2025, about 9,614 were in "military stockpiles for potential use", it claimed. "India is believed to have once again slightly expanded its nuclear arsenal in 2024 and continued to develop new types of nuclear delivery system," it said. "India's new 'canisterised' missiles, which can be transported with mated warheads, may be capable of carrying nuclear warheads during peacetime, and possibly even multiple warheads on each missile, once they become operational," the think-tank claimed. In early 2025 tensions between India and Pakistan briefly spilled over into armed conflict, it said. The combination of strikes and third-party disinformation "risked turning a conventional conflict into a nuclear crisis," Matt Korda, Associate Senior Researcher with SIPRI's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme and Associate Director for the Nuclear Information Project at FAS (Federation of American Scientists), was quoted as saying in the statement. "This should act as a stark warning for states seeking to increase their reliance on nuclear weapons," he said. The think-tank further said since the end of the Cold War, the gradual dismantlement of retired warheads by Russia and the USA has normally outstripped the deployment of new warheads, resulting in an overall year-on-year decrease in the global inventory of nuclear weapons. "This trend is likely to be reversed in the coming years, as the pace of dismantlement is slowing, while the deployment of new nuclear weapons is accelerating," it cautioned. Key findings of SIPRI Yearbook 2025 are that a "dangerous new nuclear arms race" is emerging at a time when arms control regimes are "severely weakened," it claimed. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mint
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Mint
Iran-Israel tension: Which countries have how many nuclear warheads? Full list here
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) revealed in its new yearbook 2025 that nine countries worldwide possess a total of 12,241 nuclear weapons as of January 1, 2025. The new report comes amid the ongoing tensions between Israel and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme. US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "Iran can't have a nuclear weapon". Amid the war and chaos in the Middle East, and in Russia and Ukraine, the SIPRI Yearbook 2025 showed that 'a dangerous new nuclear arms race is emerging at a time when arms control regimes are severely weakened.' The report further named the "nine states (countries)" which have nuclear warheads, and also mentioned the number of warheads that they possess. The SIPRI Yearbook 2025 stated, "At the start of 2025, nine possessed approximately 12,241 nuclear weapons, of which 9614 were considered to be potentially operationally available." Here's what the report revealed. As per the report, the nine nuclear-armed states are the US, Russia, the United Kingdom (UK), France, China, India, Pakistan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and Israel. Here's the list according to the SIPRI estimates: Russia: 5459 nuclear weapons China: 600 nuclear weapons France: 290 nuclear weapons India: 180 nuclear weapons Pakistan: 170 nuclear weapons Israel: 90 nuclear weapons North Korea: 50 nuclear weapons The report said that these countries "continued intensive nuclear modernisation programmes in 2024, upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions." The SIPRI report further revealed that of the total global inventory of an estimated 12,241 warheads in January 2025, about 9,614 were in military stockpiles for potential use. An estimated 3,912 of those warheads were deployed with missiles and aircraft, and the rest were in central storage. Around 2,100 of the deployed warheads were kept in a state of high operational alert on ballistic missiles. "Nearly all of these warheads belonged to Russia or the USA, but China may now keep some warheads on missiles during peacetime," the report said. Credit: SIPRI Yearbook 2025 The SIPRI analysis revealed that China's nuclear arsenal is growing faster than any other country's, by about 100 new warheads a year since 2023. It also mentioned that India is believed to have once again slightly expanded its nuclear arsenal in 2024 and continued to develop new types of nuclear delivery system. The report added that "Russia and the USA together possess around 90 per cent of all nuclear weapons." It said it is likely that both Russian and US deployments of nuclear weapons will rise in the years despite their nuclear programmes facing challenges. The SIPRI report claimed that overall, the number of nuclear warheads in the world continues to decline, due to the USA and Russia dismantling retired warheads. However, it noted that 'the number of warheads being dismantled annually appears to be decreasing, and it seems likely that the rate at which retired warheads are dismantled will soon be outpaced by the rate at which new warheads enter global stockpiles.'
