MWM: Who keeps the world at bay today — review of nuclear arsenals

80 years have passed since the first use of nuclear weapons, recalls the American military magazine Military Watch Magazine (MWM). In the material, the translation of which publishes Pravda.Ru , gives an overview of the hidden arsenals and classification of countries by the level of their nuclear capabilities.

An increasing number of countries have an increasingly diverse means of launching nuclear strikes. Although the Treaty on the Non—Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons has limited the possession of nuclear warheads to only five countries - the United States, China, Russia, France and the United Kingdom, today a total of 15 countries retain at least limited known nuclear strike capabilities. These include four States that have not signed the treaty and six countries participating in nuclear exchange agreements.

These States are being trained to use either American or Russian nuclear weapons stored on their territory, with the expectation that in the event of a large-scale conflict they will be given access to them. Countries with nuclear weapons can be roughly divided into four categories depending on the size, capabilities and diversity of their arsenals and means of delivery. Below is an overview of the world's nuclear arsenals.

Level One: USA, Russia and China

The United States, Russia and China are the only states with full—fledged nuclear triads and intercontinental range strike capabilities. This means that they are deploying nuclear weapons on land-based missile systems, strategic bombers and submarines capable of hitting targets at a distance of more than 5,600 km. All three countries have both tactical and strategic nuclear weapons. At the same time, the Chinese arsenal is less than one-fifth of the size of the arsenals of the other two nuclear superpowers, and the doctrine of its use is one of the most cautious and defensive in the world.

Each of these countries has its own strengths and weaknesses: Russia has deployed more warheads, has a significant arsenal of tactical ballistic missiles with nuclear equipment and hypersonic gliders of intercontinental range. The United States remains the only country that has deployed tactical nuclear weapons on stealth fighters and bombers. However, their arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles is noticeably outdated, since the basic samples were created back in the 1970s. Russia, in turn, responded to the threat from American bombers by arming its interceptors with the world's only air-to-air nuclear missiles.

Level Two: North Korea, India, Pakistan, Israel

The DPRK, India, Pakistan and Israel have developed nuclear weapons outside the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel did this with the serious support of France. All four countries have various means of delivery, while all, except the DPRK, have confirmed the possibility of launching nuclear air strikes. North Korea and Israel are among only five countries with intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The DPRK's arsenal is considered to be the most powerful in many ways: its missile forces are second only to China in diversity. Pyongyang has ballistic and cruise missiles launched from submarines, medium-range missiles with hypersonic blocks, underwater nuclear drones and destroyers with nuclear-armed cruise missiles. The DPRK is the only one of these four countries whose nuclear forces are primarily designed for intercontinental strikes, and not to deter neighbors. Pakistan remains the only State that has deployed nuclear munitions for artillery systems, which allows for tactical-level strikes.

Level three: UK and France

The UK and France have limited nuclear capabilities, mainly due to ballistic missile submarines. France also retains limited tactical capabilities using Rafale fighters, but the age of these aircraft and their lack of stealth create serious limitations.

The UK intends to restore tactical nuclear capabilities through a nuclear exchange agreement with the United States, which will allow its F-35A fighters to use American B61−12 bombs stationed in the country in the event of a full-scale war. At the same time, London lacks independent tactical nuclear power. Despite having their own strategic deterrent forces, both countries suffer from an extremely limited variety of delivery vehicles and from serious shortcomings in the tactical component.

Level four: Germany, Netherlands, Turkey, Belgium, Italy and Belarus

The United States supports nuclear exchange agreements with five of its allies — Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, Belgium and Italy, and soon a similar agreement will be concluded with the UK. These agreements actually allow Washington to expand the proliferation of nuclear weapons. This practice remains controversial, as it essentially creates new nuclear states, which, as Western analysts widely emphasize, violates articles I and II of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

All parties to the agreements use only B61 aviation nuclear bombs, which are suspended on F-16 or F-35A fighters, and in Germany — on outdated Tornadoes.

Belarus signed a nuclear exchange agreement with Russia in 2023 and deployed warheads on Iskander-M missile systems. The Belarusian arsenal is expected to be expanded by the end of 2025 at the expense of medium-range Oreshnik hypersonic missiles, and possibly at the expense of nuclear rocket artillery systems.

Countries participating in nuclear exchange agreements do not have autonomy in the use of their arsenal, and access to nuclear weapons may be blocked by Washington or Moscow.