With an emphasis on long-range weapons to target China, India’s nuclear stockpile surpasses that of Pakistan: Report

According to a Stockholm-based research organization, India increased the size of its nuclear arsenal and overtook its neighbor Pakistan by putting an increasing focus on longer-range missiles that can strike any site in China.

According to research issued on Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India has 172 “stored” nuclear weapons as of January of this year, compared to 170 for Pakistan. India’s total was 164 a year before, according to SIPRI. Nine countries possessing nuclear weapons, including the United States, Russia, France, China, and others, have been updating their nuclear arsenals and a few of them have introduced new nuclear-capable armaments in 2023.

In 2023, India made a minor addition to its nuclear arsenal. In 2023, both India and Pakistan persisted in developing novel nuclear delivery systems. India’s nuclear deterrence still primarily targets Pakistan, but it also seems to be focusing more on longer-range missiles, such as those that can reach targets all across China, according to SIPRI.

China’s nuclear arsenal grew from 410 warheads in January 2023 to 500 in January 2024, according to SIPRI, and it is predicted to continue expanding. According to the research, almost all of the 2,100 deployed warheads—nearly all of which belonged to the US or Russia—were stored atop ballistic missiles in a condition of high operational readiness. SIPRI said that China is thought to have placed certain warheads on high operational alert for the first time.

Nine nuclear-armed governments, including North Korea, India, Pakistan, and Israel, are claimed to have kept up the modernization of their nuclear arsenals, with some deploying new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapon systems in 2023, according to SIPRI. Approximately 9,585 of the projected 12,121 warheads in the world in January 2024 were in military stocks for possible deployment, according to the report.

According to the report, 3,904 of those warheads were anticipated to be in use with missiles and planes, which is 60 more than in January 2023. The other warheads were kept in central storage. “On ballistic missiles, almost 2,100 of the deployed warheads were maintained in a high operational alert status. China is thought to have some warheads on high operational alert for the first time; before, almost all of these warheads belonged to the US or Russia, the article said.

The think-tank claims that North Korea, India, and Pakistan are all working toward being able to launch multiple warheads on ballistic missiles, a capacity currently possessed by China, Russia, France, the UK, and the US. According to it, this would make it possible for nuclear-armed nations to threaten the destruction of a great many more targets and to quickly expand the number of weapons that are now in use.

90% OF ARMAMENTS
Russia and the US combined are believed to own about 90% of all nuclear weapons, according to SIPRI. Although Russia is expected to have deployed around 36 more warheads with operational troops than in January 2023, it claimed that the quantities of their respective military stockpiles seem to have stayed essentially steady in 2023. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, both nations have seen a fall in nuclear force transparency, and discussions about nuclear-sharing agreements have become more important, it said.

It said that by the turn of the decade, China may possess at least as many intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) as the US or Russia, depending on how it chooses to organize its armed forces. However, the article also said that China is still projected to have a significantly smaller nuclear weapon stockpile than either the US or Russia.

Hans M. Kristensen, Associate Senior Fellow at SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme and Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), said that China is growing its nuclear arsenal at a quicker rate than any other nation. However, Kristensen said, “there are either plans or a significant push to increase nuclear forces in nearly all of the nuclear-armed states.”