Nuclear-armed nations have increased their expenditure on atomic weapons by 33% over the past five years, as reported by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).
Last year, the nine nuclear-armed countries collectively spent $91 billion on enhancing and modernizing their arsenals, according to ICAN and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The reports reveal a significant uptick in nuclear weapons spending, indicating a widespread modernization effort and even the deployment of new nuclear-armed weapons.
ICAN chief Melissa Parke stated that there appears to be an ongoing nuclear arms race among these nations. Meanwhile, SIPRI’s Wilfred Wan cautioned that nuclear weapons are now playing a more prominent role in international relations than they have since the Cold War.
Despite a slight decrease in the total estimated number of nuclear warheads worldwide, with 12,121 warheads at the beginning of this year compared to 12,512 the previous year, the SIPRI reports show that 9,585 warheads are available for potential use, with 2,100 held in a state of “high operational alert” on ballistic missiles.
Russia and the United States together possess the majority of these operational warheads, while for the first time, China is believed to have warheads on high operational alert as well, according to SIPRI. Although the global number of nuclear warheads is gradually declining as older weapons are dismantled, there has been a concerning rise in the number of operational warheads, as noted by SIPRI director Dan Smith.
