China adds 90 nukes, puts warheads on ‘high operational alert’

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, June 26

The global nuclear warhead stockpile has increased. China had added some 90 nukes to its arsenal and, for the first time, it has warheads on ‘high operational alert’. India has also effected a small increase, says data released today by the Sweden-based international think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

SIPRI in its statement said, “The number and types of nuclear weapons in development have increased as states deepen their reliance on nuclear deterrence.”

At the start of 2024, nine countries—the United States, Russia, the UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel—together possessed approximately 12,121 nuclear weapons.

An estimated 3,904 of these warheads were deployed with operational forces, including 2,100 warheads being kept in a state of high operational alert—that is about 100 more than the previous year.

Nearly all of the warheads on “high operational alert” belonged to Russia or the United States, but for the first time, China is believed to have some warheads on high operational alert, SIPRI said.

As of January 2024, China maintained an estimated total stockpile of about 500 nuclear warheads. This is around 90 more than SIPRI’s estimate for the previous year, the data says.

In an unrelated development, the Indian Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan today said the threat from nuclear weapons has once again occupied centrestage in the geopolitical landscape. Gen Chauhan was delivering the keynote address on ‘Nuclear Strategy: Contemporary Developments and Future Possibilities’ in a seminar organised by Centre for Air Power Studies today, the Ministry of Defence said.

India too effects small increase

• On India, the SIPRI data says as of January 2024, India was estimated to have a growing stockpile of about 172 nuclear weapons—a small increase from the previous year.
• Pakistan possesses approximately 170 nuclear warheads as of January 2024 — the same number as the previous year