Spending on nuclear weapons is soaring around the world, according to two studies

Nuclear powers are modernizing their arsenals in the face of increasing geopolitical tensions, describe two NGO reports.

Nuclear rearmament advances as the world descends into war. According to two reports published Monday June 17, nuclear powers are modernizing their arsenals in the face of increasing geopolitical tensions, with an increase of a third in spending in this area over the last five years. According to a first report from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican), the nine states with nuclear weapons (United States, Russia, China, United Kingdom, France, India, Israel, Pakistan and Korea of the North) in fact spent 91 billion dollars (85 billion euros) last year, or 10.8 billion dollars more over one year.

It shows, along with another report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), that these countries have significantly increased their spending as they modernize their nuclear weapons, or even deploy new ones. “I think it’s fair to say that a nuclear arms race is underway.”said ICAN director Melissa Parke.

Wilfred Wan, director of the weapons of mass destruction program at Sipri, says that “Since the Cold War, nuclear weapons have never played such an important role in international relations.” Si “the total number of nuclear warheads continues to decline as Cold War-era weapons are gradually dismantled”an increase in “number of operational nuclear warheads” is observed from year to year among nuclear powers, explains Dan Smith, director of Sipri.

Of the world’s 12,121 existing warheads, 9,585 are available for potential use, nine more than last year. And 2,100 are kept in good condition.“high operational alert” – that is to say ready for immediate use – for ballistic missiles. Almost all of these nuclear warheads belong to Russia and the United States, which alone possess 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons. Sipri also estimates for the first time that China holds “a few warheads on operational alert”.