Taking the Pulse of the US Nuclear Arsenal

The nuclear genie is alive and well. If one didn’t know better, it would seem the world was still in a Cold War. Nearly a decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the U.S. maintains an arsenal of over 8,400 operational nuclear warheads, of which several thousand can be launched in minutes. Several thousand more are kept in reserve as a "hedge" against an uncertain future.

Construction of nuclear warships continues, and more bombers roll off production lines. Missile crews burrowed in underground hardened shelters rehearse launch procedures, and nuclear-capable aircraft perform mock attacks with dummy warheads, while a fleet of nuclear submarines permanently patrol the depths of the world's oceans. Nuclear warheads are repaired and modernized, laboratories work on designing new or improved nuclear weapons, and "subcritical" nuclear tests are conducted under the Nevada desert. Satellite images are fed into target databases and nuclear war plans upgraded. Scientists work on ever bigger computers to simulate nuclear explosions, and build multi-billion dollar laser facilities to create contained nuclear reactions. While the East-West confrontation is long over, the daily routines of the four-decade conflict continue.

This web page takes the pulse on the U.S. nuclear arsenal by monitoring nuclear exercises, routine deployments and operations, nuclear planning, modernization of nuclear warheads and weapons, procurement of nuclear weapons systems, and construction of nuclear facilities. In addition to training and exercises, ongoing or planned nuclear activities include:

• Upgrading four strategic Ohio-class submarines to Trident II D-5 missiles;
• Improving the accuracy of 500 Minuteman III missiles;
• Building two classes of nuclear attack submarines;
• Continuing introduction of B-2A bombers;
• Developing a replacement warhead for the Trident missile;
• Modernizing and upgrading virtually all existing nuclear warheads;
• Re-manufacturing of nuclear warheads about to begin at Los Alamos;
• Researching at least three new or "modified" nuclear weapons;
• Introducing a modernized nuclear war planning system;
• Establishing a new nuclear war plan;
• Constructing at least six major new facilities to simulate nuclear weapons physics;
• Deciding when and how to resume production of tritium for nuclear weapons;
• Carrying out sub-critical test explosions of plutonium;
• Simulating nuclear explosions through at least five major computing projects.

Each of the links below provides information on a different aspect of the US nuclear arsenal and infrastructure. These links will be continually updated as additional material becomes available.

Strategic Nuclear Submarines (SSBN)

Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM)

Long-Range Bombers

Nuclear Attack Submarines (SSN)

Fighter-Bomber Aircraft

Nuclear Warheads

Nuclear War Planning

The Nuclear Weapons Complex

Author: Written and compiled by Hans M. Kristensen, a consultant to BASIC, a member of the Danish Defence Commission, and a Research Associate at the Nautilus Institute. Additional work and web development by Stephen Young, Senior Analyst, BASIC.

Sources: Freedom of Information Act requests by the author; government documents, and the the Natural Resources Defense Council Nuclear Weapons Databook Project.

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