ACA Logo

Current Strategic Nuclear Forces of the Former Soviet Union

Press Contacts: Daryl Kimball, Executive Director, (202) 463-8270 x107

Russia

"START Accountable" [1]
Strategic Nuclear Delivery Vehicles
Strategic Nuclear Warheads
Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)
469
2,005
Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs)
268
1,288
Bombers
77
616
Total
814
3,909

Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine [2]

"START Accountable" [1]
Delivery Vehicles
Nuclear Warheads
ICBMs
0
0
SLBMs
0
0
Bombers
0
0
Total
0
0

Changes in Former Soviet Strategic Forces Since 1990

"START Accountable" [1]
Strategic Nuclear Delivery Vehicles
Strategic Nuclear Warheads
September 1990
April 2009
September 1990
April 2009
ICBMs
SS-11
326
0
326
0
SS-13
40
0
40
0
SS-17
47
0
188
0
SS-18
308
104
3,080
1,040
SS-19
300
120
1,800
720
SS-24 (Silo)
56
0
560
0
SS-24 (Rail)
33
0
330
0
SS-25
288
180
288
180
SS-27 (Silo)
0
50
0
50
SS-27 (Road Mobile)
0
15
0
15
Subtotal
1,398
469
6,612
2,005

SLBMs
SS-N-6
192
0
192
0
SS-N-8
280
0
280
0
SS-N-17
12
0
12
0
SS-N-18
224
96
672
288
SS-N-20
120
40
1,200
400
SS-N-23
112
96
448
384
RSM-56
0
36
0
216
Subtotal
940
268
2,804
1,288
Bombers
Bear (ALCM)
84
63
672
504
Bear (Non-ALCM)
63
0
63
0
Blackjack
15
14
120
112
Subtotal
162
79
855
616
Total
2,500
816
10,271
3,909

KEY

ICBM Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
SLBM Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile
ALCM Air-Launched Cruise Missile

 

Notes:

1. START I limits the United States and Russia to 6,000 "accountable" warheads each with an implementation deadline of December 2001. Figures are based on START counting rules, as negotiated between the United States and the Soviet Union and specified in the treaty text. Thus, numbers do not necessarily reflect those weapons systems that are operationally deployed.

2. Strategic nuclear weapons were located in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. Belarus and Kazakhstan rapidly transferred nuclear warheads back to Russia and transferred or destroyed their associated delivery systems. Ukraine completed the transfer of nuclear warheads back to Russia in 1996 and destroyed its last SS-24 ICBM silo on October 30, 2001.

Sources: START Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) of September 1, 1990 and the most recent MOU of April 2009.

Premium Content

Read Digital Magazine
*
*  

ACA In The News

Arms Control TV

The Nuclear Tipping Point
January 2010

The Nuclear Tipping Point is a warning about modern nuclear dangers, based on the efforts of Sen. Sam Nunn, Fmr. Secs. of State Henry Kissinger and George Schultz, and Fmr. Sec. of Defense William Perry.