Nuclear Powers Set to Continue Boosting Operational Warheads
- SIPRI research institute says China is leading the expansion
- More nuclear weapons deployed with missiles, aircraft: report
Russian RS-24 Yars nuclear missile complex arrives during the main rehearsals of the military parade, in the Red Square on May 5.
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An “extremely concerning” increase in the number of nuclear warheads deployed with missiles and aircraft will probably pick up speed in the next years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The number of such warheads rose to 3,904 as Russia continues to threaten its adversaries at the same time as China may have put weapons of mass destruction on high operational alert for the first time, the institute said in a statement Monday, citing data from January. That bucks the declining trend in overall atomic weapons.