How US Nuclear Arsenal Looks as Washington Increases Spending
Published Jun 21, 2024 at 4:00 AM EDT
Updated Jun 21, 2024 at 9:35 AM EDT
By Ellie Cook
Security & Defense Reporter
As nuclear fears deepen with the ongoing war in Ukraine and Russia's references to the possible use of nuclear weapons in the conflict, the U.S., like many other nuclear-armed states, is reevaluating its arsenal.
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), a Geneva-based pressure group, said earlier this week that every nuclear-armed country increased in 2023 the amount it spent on nuclear weapons.
Currently, nine countries possess nuclear weapons—the U.S., France and the United Kingdom, within NATO, as well as the non-NATO nations Russia, China, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea.
But the U.S. had the largest nuke spending increase, almost 18 percent—or $51.5 billion—and that is "more than all of the other nuclear-armed states combined," the group said. China came in second with $11.9 billion, followed by the $8.3 billion spent by Russia last year.
https://www.newsweek.com/us-nuclear-arsenal-increase-spending-warheads-new-start-russia-china-1914257
