Latest news with #nucleararsenal
Russia Today
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
India expanded its nuclear stockpile in 2024
India expanded its nuclear arsenal in 2024 and continues to develop new types of delivery systems for the weapons, according to a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) published on Monday. SIPRI is an independent international institute that conducts research on conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. According to the SIPRI 2025 yearbook, India had 180 nuclear stored warheads as of January 2025, while Pakistan had an estimated 170. India has strengthened its nuclear triad by commissioning its second domestically built nuclear-powered submarine, the 'INS Arighaat', which can launch strategic weapons from the sea, in addition to land and air-based capabilities, the SIPRI noted. India's nuclear policy, established in 2003, states that the country will only use nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack on its territory or forces, and will not be the first to conduct a nuclear strike in a conflict. SIPRI, which updates its global nuclear forces data annually, said Pakistan is continuing to develop new nuclear delivery systems and produce more fissile material, indicating a potential expansion of its nuclear arsenal in the coming years. 🇮🇳🇵🇰 India and Pakistan expanded their nuclear arsenals and continued to develop new delivery systems in 2024. In early 2025 tensions between India and Pakistan briefly spilled over into armed conflict. Read more 🔗 According to the Stockholm-based institute, Russia and the US have the largest nuclear stockpiles, with 5,459 and 5,177 warheads, respectively. A recent report by SIPRI pointed out that global military spending increased more year-on-year in 2024 than at any time since the Cold War. Russia, China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea all have missiles that can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads and are modernizing these systems, the institute said. China has 600 nuclear warheads, 24 of which are ready for use, and has developed missiles that can carry multiple warheads, a capability that India, Pakistan, and North Korea are also trying to develop, it added.
Wall Street Journal
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
What to Know About Iran's Enriched Uranium Capabilities
Iran has rapidly escalated production of fissile material in the past six months and is producing around one nuclear weapon's worth of 60% highly enriched uranium a month, principally at its Fordow site. Iran could produce enough highly enriched uranium for 19 nuclear weapons within three months, allowing it to start to build a real nuclear arsenal, according to David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security.
News.com.au
05-06-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
China's nuclear build-up driving ‘security anxiety', Richard Marles says
China's rapidly growing nuclear arsenal is driving 'security anxiety' in Australia, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles says. As of mid-2024, China's operational nuclear warheads exceeded 600, according to the US Department of Defence. That was nearly triple what the country was estimated to have in 2020. Speaking to reporters in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, Mr Marles said on Thursday evening (local time) Beijing's nuclear activity 'does shape how we think about the strategic landscape that we face'. 'I mean, we've made no secret of the fact that we have a security anxiety in relation to China that's principally driven by the very significant conventional military build-up that China is engaging in, and, for that matter, a nuclear build-up that China is engaging in,' said Mr Marles, who also holds the defence portfolio. 'We've made that clear to China itself.' He refused to say whether Australia would lift its defence budget in line with Washington's demand to hike military spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP. Mr Marles said Australia would 'determine its own defence spending based on our own national interest' and 'America understands that'. 'In fact, we've increased our defence spending considerably already,' Mr Marles said. 'We have, over the last couple of years, engaged in the biggest increase in peacetime spending for defence in our history, and that has significantly begun the process of enhancing the capability of the Australian Defence Force.' He added that spending on 'procurement in the financial year 23-24 it was the largest amount that defence has ever spent, and we will spend more again in this financial year, 24-25'. 'So that spending is happening across the board. We will continue to look at the resources that we need, the capabilities that we need, and we will resource that appropriately, which is what I've said, and what the Prime Minister has also said, and we will do that in a manner which meets the strategic moment,' Mr Marles said. ADF chief David Johnston warned on Wednesday that Australia must consider launching combat operations from its own territory, saying Canberra needed to rethink the national preparedness. 'Perhaps finally we are having to reconsider Australia as a homeland from which we will conduct combat operations,' he told a major defence conference. 'That is a very different way, almost since the Second World War, of how we think of national resilience and preparedness.' Admiral Johnston said Australia 'might need to operate and conduct operations from this country'. Asked on Thursday if Australians were 'fully aware' of the risks facing their country, Mr Marles said there was 'at the academic level, a lot of discussion'. 'But I would also say that at the level of main street, when you're talking to people across Australia … there is a broad sense that we live in a much more complex world,' he said. 'That world is uncertain, and that we need a government which is focused on national security.'
Telegraph
26-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Pakistan upgrading nukes with Chinese support, US warns
Pakistan is upgrading its nuclear arsenal with Chinese support and sees India as an 'existential threat ', a US report has said. In its worldwide threat assessment report for 2025, the US Defence Intelligence Agency predicted that nuclear modernisation would be a top priority for Pakistan's military during the next year. The report said: 'Pakistan regards India as an existential threat and will continue to pursue its military modernisation effort, including the development of battlefield nuclear weapons, to offset India's conventional military advantage.' It suggested Islamabad was not only upgrading and securing its arsenal but also 'almost certainly' procuring weapons of mass destruction (WMD). 'Pakistan is modernising its nuclear arsenal and maintaining the security of its nuclear materials and nuclear command and control. Pakistan almost certainly procures WMD-applicable goods from foreign suppliers and intermediaries,' it said. Chinese largesse Pakistan is a recipient of China's economic and military largesse, and the two nations carry out joint military exercises, including an air exercise in November last year. 'Foreign materials and technology supporting Pakistan's WMD programs are very likely acquired primarily from suppliers in China, and sometimes are trans-shipped through Hong Kong, Singapore, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates,' said the report. India considers China its 'primary adversary,' and Pakistan, its neighbour, more of an 'ancillary security problem', the report said. It added that India had modernised its military last year, testing the nuclear-capable developmental Agni-I Prime MRBM (medium-range ballistic missile) and the Agni-V multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle. India also commissioned a second nuclear-powered submarine to strengthen its nuclear triad and bolster its ability to deter adversaries. Last week, the Indian government claimed China had helped move satellites and recalibrate air defence systems before Pakistan shot down Indian fighter jets during their recent military clashes. According to Ashok Kumar, the director general of the New Delhi-based Centre For Joint Warfare Studies, China worked with Pakistan to reorganise its radar and air defence systems to track troop deployments and aerial movements by India. Mr Kumar, whose research group operates under the Indian Ministry of Defence, said Chinese military advisers helped Pakistan realign its satellite coverage over India as the two neighbouring state clashed after the April 22 terror attack. On that day, 26 tourists were killed at Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan and accused it of backing cross-border terrorism. Pakistan denied any involvement and called for an international investigation. Between May 7 and 10, the neighbouring states launched attacks involving supersonic missiles and drones on each other's territory. Pakistan said it shot down six Indian warplanes, including three French-made Rafales. India has not commented on the specific losses. Dozens of civilians were killed in the attacks, mostly in Kashmir, which is divided between the two nations. Hours after the initial Indian military strikes on May 7, Ishaq Dar, Pakistan's foreign minister, told parliament that Islamabad had used Chinese jets, including J-10C, against India. Mr Dar said the Chinese ambassador had been called to his office to discuss the deployment. Pakistan also used a Chinese-made PL-15 missile, which has never been used in combat before. Its use raised concerns among Beijing's rivals, including Taiwan. China's government has not commented on the use of its equipment. Donald Trump, the US president, surprised many by announcing a ' full and immediate ceasefire ' on May 10, which appears to be holding.
South China Morning Post
15-05-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
India calls for UN scrutiny of Pakistan's nuclear weapons as tensions persist
Pakistan's nuclear arsenal should be under the surveillance of the UN's nuclear agency, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday, following last week's four days of conflict between Islamabad and New Delhi. 'I want to put this question to the world … is Pakistan's nuclear arsenal safe?' Singh said to troops at a base in Indian-administered Kashmir, adding: 'Pakistan's nuclear arsenal should be brought under the scrutiny of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency).' Singh's remarks came a day after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took aim at his counterpart over the border, accusing Narendra Modi of fanning instability and vowing a harsh response to future attacks. Sharif spoke at a gathering of soldiers near the border on Wednesday, two days after Modi pledged in a speech to neutralise terrorist camps in Pakistan, calling its May 7 strikes inside Pakistan territory as a 'new normal' response. 'Mr. Modi, if you take this route again, you will get a devastating answer,' Sharif said. 'If you attack us, you'll lose whatever you have.' The two South Asian nuclear powers have agreed to a ceasefire after their most serious military confrontation in half a century. Tit-for-tat strikes followed India's operations after militants killed 26 people in the disputed Kashmir region. India has accused Pakistan of involvement, which Islamabad denies.
