US reveals it has 5,113 nuclear warheads

WASHINGTON - The US has shared one of its best kept secrets - it has 5,113 nuclear warheads in its weapons stockpile.

It represents an 84 percent reduction from the end of 1967, when the US nuclear arsenal stood at 31,255 warheads, a senior defence official told reporters Monday, disclosing that the country had 5,113 nuclear warheads as of Sep 30.

The US nuclear stockpile includes both active and inactive warheads.

Active warheads include strategic and non-strategic weapons maintained in an operational, ready-for-use configuration, and warheads that must be ready for possible deployment within a short timeframe.

Inactive warheads are maintained in a non-operational status at depots, and have their tritium bottles removed, states the US’ department of defence website.

The official noted that the country was making progress in dismantling nuclear warheads with 8,748 dismantled between years 1994 and 2009 and several thousand more currently retired and awaiting dismantlement.

The official hoped that this step would set a standard for the rest of the world, including China, to be more transparent about their nuclear weapons programmes.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the UN conference on the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty in New York Monday: “For those who doubt that the United States will do its part on disarmament, this is our record, these are our commitments.”

“And they send a clear, unmistakable message.”

Clinton said the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, once approved, will further limit the number of strategic nuclear weapons deployed by both countries to levels not seen since the 1950s.

President Barack Obama has made reducing the threat posed by nuclear weapons and nuclear materials a central mission of US foreign policy, she said.

Clinton stated that Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions put the entire world at risk and urged the international community to hold it accountable.

She urged Iran to join with other countries represented at the conference to “fulfil our international obligations and work toward the goal of a safer world”.

“When President Obama came into office, he recognised that the greatest potential danger facing the United States comes from a terrorist group like Al Qaida obtaining a crude nuclear device, not from a global nuclear war,” she said.

“The threats of the 21st century cannot be addressed with a massive nuclear stockpile. So we are taking irreversible, transparent, verifiable steps to reduce the number of nuclear weapons in our arsenal.”

Clinton, however, stressed that the US won’t eliminate all its nuclear weapons until it’s safe to do so. “The United States will maintain a nuclear deterrent for as long as nuclear weapons exist, one that can protect our country and our allies.”