Two NGO reports show that nuclear powers are modernising their arsenals in response to escalating geopolitical tensions

Nuclear rearmament is progressing as the world descends into war. According to two reports published on Monday 17 June, the nuclear powers are modernising their arsenals in response to escalating geopolitical tensions, leading to a one-third increase in spending in this area over the last five years. The report by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) reveals that the nine nuclear-armed states (United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, France, India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea) spent $91 billion (€85 billion) last year, $10.8 billion more than the previous year.

This report, along with another study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), shows that these countries have considerably increased their spending on modernising and deploying new nuclear weapons. “A nuclear arms race is underway”, said Melissa Parke, Director of Sipri.

Wilfred Wan, Director of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme at Sipri, states that “not since the Cold War have nuclear weapons played such an important role in international relations”. Although “the total number of nuclear warheads continues to decline with the progressive dismantling of Cold War era weapons”, an increase in the “number of operational nuclear warheads” is observed every year among the nuclear powers, according to Dan Smith, Director of Sipri.

Of the 12,121 existing warheads in the world, 9,585 are available for potential use, nine more than last year.A further 2,100 warheads are on “high operational alert”, ready for immediate use in ballistic missiles. The majority of these warheads belong to Russia and the United States, which together possess 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons.For the first time, Sipri also estimates that China has “a few warheads on operational alert”.