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Tactical Nuclear Weapons

  • Arms Control and Proliferation Profile: Russia
    Fact Sheets & Briefs
    April 1, 2013

    April 2013
  • The NATO Summit: Recasting the Debate Over U.S. Nuclear Weapons in Europe
    Arms Control Today
    May 2, 2012

    Oliver Meier is a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg and international representative of the Arms Control Association. Paul Ingram is executive director of the British American Security Information Council. The authors would like to thank the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for its support, which made research for this article possible.
  • Op-Ed: Start Cutting U.S. Nuclear Weapons Down To 1,000
    Press Room
    February 17, 2012

    In the 20 years since the end of the Cold War, successive U.S. and Russian presidents have gradually reduced the size and salience of their enormous nuclear stockpiles, which remain by far the largest of any country. Nevertheless, the size of each country's arsenal far exceeds what is necessary to deter nuclear attack by the other or by one of the world's other nuclear-armed states.
  • NATO's Incredible Nuclear Strategy: Why U.S. Weapons in Europe Deter No One
    Arms Control Today
    November 2, 2011

    At its November 2010 summit in Lisbon, NATO proclaimed itself a nuclear alliance, declaring that any change in the status of the 200-odd U.S. B61 gravity bombs stored in various sites around Europe would have to be made by consensus among all 28 allies.

    Indeed, paragraph 17 of the Strategic Concept approved at the Lisbon summit made clear the intended duration of this policy:

    Deterrence, based on an appropriate mix of nuclear and conventional capabilities, remains a core element of our overall strategy. The circumstances in which any use of nuclear weapons might have to be contemplated are extremely remote. As long as nuclear weapons exist, NATO will remain a nuclear alliance.
  • Strategic Choices on Tactical Weapons
    Arms Control Today
    October 31, 2011

    In one of the smartest and boldest moves of the nuclear age, President George H.W. Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev agreed in 1991 to withdraw most U.S. and Soviet forward-deployed tactical nuclear weapons and dismantle a large portion of those weapons. These actions reduced tensions and the risk of nuclear catastrophe as the Soviet Union broke apart.
  • NATO Deterrence Review Gets Under Way
    Arms Control Today
    September 30, 2011

    NATO has agreed on the process for its deterrence and defense posture review, launched at the alliance’s summit in Lisbon last November.
  • Experts Urge NATO to Reduce Role of Nuclear Weapons and Open the Door for the Removal of U.S. Tactical Warheads
    Press Room
    July 18, 2011

    (Washington, D.C.) More than two dozen nuclear experts and former senior government officials are calling on NATO "to declare a more limited role for its nuclear capabilities that would help open the way for overdue changes to its Cold War-era policy of forward-basing U.S. tactical nuclear weapons. This would help facilitate another, post-New START round of reductions, which should involve of all types of Russian and U.S. nuclear weapons."
  • New ACA Report on Tactical Nuclear Weapons in Europe
    Press Room
    May 11, 2011

    (Washington, D.C.) A report released today on the future of tactical nuclear weapons in Europe finds that upcoming NATO policy decisions about the approximately 180 remaining warheads on five European NATO bases will affect relations among NATO members, and help determine the pace and shape of the next round of U.S.-Russian nuclear arms reductions.
  • Pakistan Tests Short-Range Missile
    Arms Control Today
    May 3, 2011

    The Pakistani military claimed on April 19 to have successfully tested a 60 kilometer-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile, a move that might indicate Islamabad’s intention to develop low-yield nuclear weapons for use on the battlefield.
  • Nuclear Reductions After New START: Obstacles and Opportunities
    Arms Control Today
    May 3, 2011

    Key issues for the next round of U.S.-Russian arms reductions are ballistic missile defenses, nonstrategic nuclear weapons, and strategic conventional weapons. To reach agreement, each side must recognize the other’s security concerns.