By Mu Sheng

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a Swedish think tank, released a report on June 16 showing that the global spending on nuclear weapons kept rising in 2023, with the US spending USD 51.5 billion in total, more than the combined nuclear spending of other nuclear states.

More real-combat deployments

According to the report, the past five years saw a 33% increase in nuclear arsenal expenditure by all nuclear states in the world. In 2023, the world's total nuclear spending reached USD 91.4 billion, an increase of USD 10.8 billion or 13.4% from 2022. Among that, the US registered the largest increase of 17.8%, and the money was mainly used to upgrade ballistic missiles and nuclear submarines, and for other programs. The UK followed closely with a 17.1% increase.

Statistics show that as of January this year, there were a total of 12,121 nuclear warheads around the world, 391 less than the same period last year. As nuclear weapons stocked up during the Cold War are gradually decommissioned and dismantled, the total number of nuclear warheads has kept falling, but the number of combat warheads has increased year by year.

At present, the US has deployed 1,770 nuclear warheads and stored 1,938 ones, with another 1,336 decommissioned but not dismantled yet. Russia has 1,710 warheads in deployment, 2,670 in store, and 1,200 decommissioned but not dismantled. France has deployed 280 of its 290 nuclear warheads, while the UK has deployed 120 of its 225 nuclear warheads.

The US' mounting nuclear spending

The US has sped up its nuclear weapons' buildup in recent years. The US National Nuclear Security Administration(NNSA) delivered more than 200 revamped nuclear warheads in 2023 to the US military, and the country plans to largely enhance its manufacturing capacity of new types of nuclear warheads from the current 10 per year to 80 per year. Moreover, the US has a backlog of over USD 300 billion worth of nuclear weapon contracts, some of which will last for another 10 years, meaning the US' nuclear spending will continue to rise.

According to news from the US Department of Defense, the US military will deploy the new B61-12 and B61-13 tactical nuclear bombs to replace the old ones currently in service. The new nuclear bombs can be delivered by bombers as well as fighter jets like F-35 and F-15EX. In particular, the B61-13 can generate about 360,000 tons of destructive forces, 24 times as destructive as the nuclear bomb dropped in Hiroshima in 1945.

The day before the release of the report, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO was discussing the feasibility of putting more nuclear weapons in war-readiness. According to him, the US is modernizing its nuclear warheads in Europe and Europe is upgrading its aircraft performing NATO's nuclear missions. It is said that the US has deployed about 100 B61 tactical nuclear bombs in countries like Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.

According to the analysis, despite its largest number of deployed nuclear warheads, the US is still spending a huge amount of money on upgrading its existing nuclear warheads and carrier platforms, enhancing nuclear sharing, and extending its deterrence, which will elevate the risk of a nuclear war and pose more threats to global strategic stability.