Russian nuclear weapons, 2024

Abstract

ABSTRACT Russia is in the late stages of a multi-decade long modernization program to replace all of its Soviet-era nuclear-capable systems with newer versions. In this issue of the Nuclear Notebook, we estimate that Russia now possesses approximately 4,380 nuclear warheads for its strategic and non-strategic nuclear forces—a net reduction of approximately 109 from last year’s estimate. Although the number of Russian strategic launchers is not expected to change significantly in the foreseeable future, the number of warheads assigned to them might increase. The Nuclear Notebook is researched and written by the staff of the Federation of American Scientists’ Nuclear Information Project: director Hans M. Kristensen, senior research fellow Matt Korda, research associate Eliana Johns, and Herbert Scoville Jr. peace fellow Mackenzie Knight. To see all previous Nuclear Notebook columns in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists dating back to 1987, go to https://thebulletin.org/nuclear-risk/nuclear-weapons/nuclear-notebook.