Washington, Aug 13 (Sputnik) – The Biden administration is planning a drastic expansion of the US arsenal of strategic nuclear weapons by 2026 after decades of reducing it, The Economist reported on Monday.
The massive new nuclear weapons rearmament program is scheduled to begin in February 2026, when the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with Russia expires.
The decision to expand the nuclear arsenal was made following the conclusions of U.S. nuclear policymakers suggesting that the military may be called upon to confront challenges from multiple nuclear-armed powers, from Russia and/or China to Iran and North Korea, at the same time.
In sum, the report notes that under a series of previous arms control treaties with Russia and other nations, the global nuclear arsenal has declined from 70,000 warheads in 1986 to about 12,000 today.
However, China is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal from a few hundred nuclear warheads in 2020 to a current estimate of 1,000 by 2030, and 1,500 by 2035, it concludes. (Sputnik)
