Of those, an estimated 3,844 warheads were deployed with missiles and aircraft, and about 2,000-nearly all of them from Russia or the US-maintained in a state of high operational alert, meaning that they were fitted to missiles or held at airbases hosting nuclear bombers. Globally, SIPRI estimated there were 12,512 nuclear warheads in January 2023, with about 9,576 in military stockpiles for potential use-86 more than in January 2022. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is the world’s largest fighting force but China is also engaged in an effort to modernise its military equipment and weaponry. “It is increasingly difficult to square this trend with China’s declared aim of having only the minimum nuclear forces needed to maintain its national security.” “China has started a significant expansion of its nuclear arsenal,” Hans M Kristensen, associate senior fellow with SIPRI’s weapons of mass destruction programme and director of the nuclear information project at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) said in a statement. In the SIPRI Yearbook 2023 released on Monday, the think tank said it estimated China’s nuclear arsenal had increased from 350 warheads in January 2022 to 410 in January 2023, and that it was “expected to keep growing”.ĭepending on how China decided to structure its forces, the report added, China could potentially have at least as many intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as either the United States or Russia by 2030, it added.

The world’s nine nuclear-armed states are continuing to modernise their nuclear arsenals, with China’s stockpile of nuclear warheads rising by 17 percent in 2022, according to the Sweden-based Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

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