U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces Under New START

Press Contact:  Tom Z. Collina, Research Director, 202-463-8270 x104

April 2013

See Table 1: U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces Under New START

The 2010 New START treaty limits both the United States and Russia to 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads deployed on 700 long-range delivery systems--intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), and bombers. These treaty limits do not have to be met until 2018.

Under New START, the United States will retain up to 420 ICBMs, 60 nuclear-capable bombers, and 240 SLBMs.[i]

•  Under the treaty, the country will retain up to 420 deployed Minuteman III ICBMs, all with a single warhead.

•  Some bombers will be converted to conventional-only missions (not accountable under New START), and up to 60 nuclear-capable bombers will be retained. Bombers are not on alert or loaded with weapons in peacetime, and New START counting rules allow each bomber to be counted as “one” deployed warhead, even though bombers can carry up to 16-20 nuclear weapons.

•  The United States currently has 14 strategic nuclear submarines (SSBNs), all of which will be retained. These 14 Trident submarines contain 24 missile launch tubes each, or 336 tubes total. Between two and four submarines are in dry dock at any given time, for a total of 240-288 missiles currently deployed. The United States plans to reduce the number of SLBM launch tubes from 24 to 20 per SSBN and deploy no more than 240 SLBMs at any time.

The planned deployments for delivery systems under New START totals 720, which is 20 above the treaty’s total limit. The treaty allows for nondeployed missiles and launchers, however, and removing 20 delivery systems from deployment and placing them under maintenance would allow the United States to meet the limits. As strategic forces are reduced under the treaty, those that remain would be upgraded. Over the next decade, the administration plans to invest hundereds of billions of dollars to modernize the nuclear weapons complex and nuclear delivery systems.

Under New START, both sides release aggragate data on their stockpiles every six months. The table below reflects the most recent data released in April 2013.[ii] On the table, note that the bomber data is misleading because it counts retired B-52G bombers as “deployed” due to an obscure counting rule.

[i] White House Fact Sheet, May 13, 2010. http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/New%20START%20section%201251%20fact%20sheet.pdf

[ii] State Department Fact Sheet, April 3, 2013, http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/207020.htm; and Nov. 30, 2012, http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/201216.htm