United States Nuclear Forces

Emblem of USSTRATCOM , the commanding body of all US nuclear forces

The United States Nuclear Forces are those institutions of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the construction, general operation, safety, maintenance, and disarmament of the United States' nuclear potential .

The US Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), one of nine Unified Combatant Commands of the United States Department of Defense , is responsible for the command, training, equipment, administration and planning of all nuclear forces in all branches of the United States.

task

The Nuclear Weapons Employment Policy, signed by then US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in 2004, describes the task of the US arsenal as follows:

“US nuclear forces must be capable of, and be seen to be capable of, destroying those critical war-making and war-supporting assets and capabilities that a potential enemy leadership values most and that it would rely on to achieve its own objectives in a post-war world. "

“The US nuclear forces must be capable, and also be considered capable, of destroying the facilities and resources essential to waging or supporting a war, which a potential adversary would consider most important in order to serve his goals in a post-war order. "

- Mixhaelt1964

In the Obama administration's Nuclear Posture Review published in April 2010, the following key points of US nuclear weapons policy were defined:

“The United States will meet its commitment under Article VI of the NPT to pursue nuclear disarmament and will make demonstrable progress over the next five to ten years. We will work to reduce the role and numbers of US nuclear weapons while enhancing security for ourselves, and our allies and partners. "

“The United States will keep its commitments under Article IV of the NPT to advance nuclear disarmament and make measurable progress in it over the next 5 to 10 years. We will work to reduce the role and number of US nuclear weapons while increasing the security of ourselves, our allies and partners. "

“The United States will continue to strengthen conventional capabilities and reduce the role of nuclear weapons in deterring non-nuclear attacks, with the objective of making deterrence of nuclear attack on the United States or our allies and partners the sole purpose of US nuclear weapons. ”

“The United States will continue to strengthen its conventional capabilities and reduce the role of nuclear weapons in deterring non-nuclear attacks, provided that the role of US nuclear weapons is limited to the deterrence of nuclear attacks on the United States or our allies and Restrict partner. "

"The United States would only consider the use of nuclear weapons in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies and partners."

"The United States will only consider the use of nuclear weapons in extreme situations to defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies and partners."

"The United States will not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states that are party to the NPT and in compliance with their nuclear nonproliferation obligations."

"The United States will not use its nuclear weapons against, or threaten to use, non-nuclear-weapon states if those states are members of the NPT and meet its conditions."

The text of the NPR leaves open whether a nuclear first use should be possible in response to an attack with biological or chemical weapons.

Nuclear weapons inventory

The arsenal is divided into strategic and tactical nuclear weapons. Strategic weapons are intended for use on long-range carriers and are intended to destroy the military and industrial infrastructure of a potential enemy in its hinterland. The strategic arsenal is part of the limiting START-1 and SORT agreements with the Russian Federation . For the START-1 treaty, it is essentially the delivery systems for the nuclear weapons that count, for the SORT treaty it is the number of deployable nuclear weapons themselves. Tactical weapons are battlefield weapons for carriers with short to medium range. With the exception of the INF treaty banning medium-range missiles and land-based cruise missiles, tactical nuclear weapons in the USA are not limited and are not part of the New START treaty between the USA and Russia.

Furthermore, the stock is divided according to the availability of the weapons. For the SORT contract, only strategic weapons from the operational portfolio are counted. They are mounted on their carrier systems and can be used more or less immediately on command. The weapons of the inactive stock are not immediately available. Usually they lack certain components that are limited in their lifetime, such as B. tritium gas or the neutron source . However, they can be reactivated if necessary. There is also an inventory of decommissioned weapons waiting to be scrapped at the Pantex facility near Amarillo , Texas. At the beginning of 2009, the American arsenal consisted of around 2,200 operational strategic weapons, around 500 active tactical weapons, 2,500 inactive and around 4,200 decommissioned weapons. In comparison, the all-time high of the American inventory was 32,040 weapons in 1966. For the START- 1 contract, 1,198 carrier systems were counted as of January 1, 2009.

MOU numbers under the START I contract
was standing	Total number of carrier systems (ICBM, SLBM, heavy bombers)	Attributed warheads (ICBM, SLBM, heavy bombers)	Attributed warheads (ICBM, SLBM)	Explosive power in MT (ICBM and SLBM warheads)
July 1, 2009	1188	5916	4864	1857.3
January 1, 2009	1198	5576	4514	1717.3
January 1, 2008	1225	5914	4816	1826.1
September 1, 1990	2246	10,563	8210	2361.3

US operational nuclear weapons inventory
	carrier				Warheads
year	2000	2005	2009	2010	2000	2005	2009	2010
Strategic arsenal (total)	1055	961	851	851/798	7206	4216	2200	1968
ICBM (total)	550	510	450	500	2000	1150	550	500
Minuteman III W62 / Mk12	200	200	0	0	600	300	0	0
Minuteman III W78 / Mk12A	300	300	250	250	900	750	350	250
Minuteman III W87 / Mk21	0	0	200	200	0	0	200	250
MX Peacekeeper W87 / Mk21	50	10	0	0	500	100	0	0
SLBM (total)	408	336	288	288	3456	2016	1152	1152
UGM-96A Trident I C-4 W76-0 / Mk4	192	48	0	0	1536	288	0	0
UGM-133A Trident II D-5 W76-0 / Mk4	216	288	288	288	1536	1344	718	568
UGM-133A Trident II D-5 W76-1 / Mk4A					0	0	50	200
UGM-133A Trident II D-5 W88 / Mk5					384	384	384	384
Bomber (total)	97	115	113	113/60	1750	1050	500	316
B-2	21st	21st	20th	20/16	n / a	n / a	n / a	n / a
B-52H	76	94	93	93/44	n / a	n / a	n / a	n / a
B61-7	n / a	n / a	n / a	n / a	950	200	150	100
B61-11	n / a	n / a	n / a	n / a
B-83	n / a	n / a	n / a	n / a
ALCM / W80-1	n / a	n / a	n / a	n / a	400	350	350	216
ACM / W80-1	n / a	n / a	n / a	n / a	400	400	0	0
Tactical weapons (total)	n / a	n / a	n / a	n / a	1670	780	500	500
TLAM / N	325	325	100	100	320	200	100	100
B61-3 / 4/10	n / a	n / a	n / a	n / a	1350	580	400	400

Organization and equipment

In contrast to the French force de frappe , the nuclear arsenal is not completely centrally organized. Rather, it is coordinated by the functional command of the armed forces responsible for strategic planning, the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), but handling remains with the armed forces.

Alongside Russia (and, to a limited extent, the People's Republic of China ), the USA is the only nuclear weapon-producing state that can afford a nuclear triad. This means that the country has sea-based ICBMs, land-based ICBMs, and a nuclear deterrent bomber fleet. These are operated by the US Air Force and the US Navy . The other branches of the US armed forces have no longer had any nuclear weapons since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.

Air Force

Strategic weapons

The strategic bomber fleet is the oldest part of the US nuclear deterrent and has been entrusted with this task since the nuclear weapons operations against Japan at the end of World War II . As of January 1, 2009, the START-1 contract included 56 B-1B Lancer bombers , 19 B-2 Spirit and 141 B-52 Stratofortress . The B-1B Lancer bomber has not had a nuclear mission since the mid-1990s. In the figures of the SORT contract, therefore, no operational weapons are assigned to him. Of the 141 listed B-52 bombers, only 94 B-52H are in active use, 46 B-52H are mothballed as a reserve. There are four squadrons with B-52H, two each at Barksdale Air Force Base and two at Minot Air Force Base . The 19 B2 bombers are stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base .

Four different types of nuclear weapons are available for these, the bombs B61 -7 (0.3 to 340 kT), B61-11 (max. 340 kT) and B83-1 (a few kT to 1.2 MT). The B52 can still carry the Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) with the W80 -1 warhead (5 to 150 kT). The B61-11 is a modified B61-7 bomb specially designed for use against bunkers. The B83-1 is the most powerful weapon in the US arsenal and the only one in the megaton range. It was planned to start producing the W80-3 for the ALCM from 2008 as part of a lifetime extension program. However, that project has been postponed and the new warhead is not expected to be manufactured until 2036-2039. The current active bomber fleet can carry around 500 nuclear weapons.

In 2007, 450 Advanced Cruise Missiles (ACM) were decommissioned. As part of this process, six weapons with real warheads on a B-52H were accidentally flown out by Minot AFB. This marked the first time since 1968 that US bombers had been in the air with real nuclear weapons. The disappearance of the weapons was not noticed for around 36 hours. Furthermore, six nose tips of Mk12 re-entry bodies for the W62 warhead were mistakenly shipped to Taiwan . Subsequent investigations identified a number of security breaches and a lack of awareness of the US Air Force's nuclear mission. This resulted in a series of restructuring in the US Air Force, the reduction of the B-52H fleet was stopped and a squadron is now only entrusted with the nuclear mission on a rotation basis for one year at a time.

The US continues to operate an arsenal of 451 Minuteman III ICBMs (as of January 1, 2009) with around 550 warheads compared to an arsenal of 1,050 missiles with 2500 warheads in 1990. The Minuteman III is a three-stage solid rocket with a launch mass of around 35 tons and a range of around 11,000 km. The missiles were deployed with three warheads each, type W62 / Mk12 (170 kT) and W78 / Mk12A (335 kT). 150 missiles each are in service at Minot Air Force Base , Francis E. Warren Air Force Base and Malmstrom Air Force Base . The rocket is stationed in individual silos, 10 of which are controlled from an underground launch center. It can also be fired from the E-6B TACAMO Airborne Command Post if necessary , as was done in a test conducted at Vandenberg Air Force Base in 2008 . ICBMs are the fastest available component of the US armed forces. The missiles can leave their silos just 30 seconds after a valid launch order has been issued. Since 1994, under an agreement with Russia, missiles have been programmed with targets on the open sea. This is a safety measure in the event of an accidental or unauthorized launch of the missile. Only in the case of an authorized launch will the missile be assigned real targets. An intensive modernization program for the fleet is to be completed by 2011, which includes new engines, new fuel, a new control system and software. The W62 / Mk12 was probably completely retired by the beginning of 2009 and replaced by one W87 / Mk21 (300 kT) per missile from the Peacekeeper ICBM, which was retired by 2005, as part of the Safety Enhanded Reentry Vehicle Program (SERV - reentry head with increased safety) . The W78 / Mk12A is to remain in service and undergo a lifetime extension program. However, according to the current Nuclear Posture Review, the Minuteman fleet is to be “ent-MIRVt”, which means that in future each missile will only carry one warhead. A larger number of warheads will remain in the passive inventory so that the Minuteman III can be retrofitted if necessary. In 2003/04, plans for a new ICBM were specified, which should be put into service by 2018. This project was postponed until 2030, but studies for the new missile and its warhead are still being worked on.

Tactical nuclear weapons

The US Air Force has around 400 tactical nuclear weapons in its operational inventory. These are B61-3 and B61-4 bombs. The bombs can be dropped by F-15 , F-16 and Panavia Tornado fighter-bombers . In the US, the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base is entrusted with the nuclear task and has around 200 bombs. Another 200 bombs are stationed in five NATO countries for use by US aircraft or, as part of nuclear participation, by aircraft from other countries. US nuclear weapons are located in Germany , Belgium , the Netherlands , Italy and Turkey . In 2007 and 2008, weapons were withdrawn from Lakenheath Air Base in Great Britain and Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. Additional bombs from the inactive inventory are stored at Nellis Air Force Base , Nevada and Kirtland Air Force Base , New Mexico .

Navy nuclear weapons

Strategic weapons

The US Navy maintains most of America's strategic nuclear arsenal with its 14 Ohio-class SSBNs . A total of 18 boats of this class were built, each of which can carry 24 Trident I C5 or Trident II D5 missiles . In 2006, four boats were converted to carry cruise missiles and carry out special missions and have no longer carried nuclear weapons. However, they are still listed in the MOU data of the START-1 contract with 96 Trident I C4. Of the 14 remaining boats, 12 are in active use and two are out of service for overhaul work. The stationing locations are Kings Bay , Georgia with six boats and Bangor , Washington with eight boats. About 60% of current deterrence patrols are in the Pacific Ocean and 40% in the Atlantic, compared to just 15% of Pacific patrols in the 1980s. Even if the total number of missions has decreased due to the reduced number of boats, the frequency of operations per boat and crew is similar to that before the end of the Cold War. The service life of the boats has been increased from the originally planned 30 years to 45 years.

Since 2008, Ohio-class submarines have only carried the Trident II D5. The rocket consists of three solid stages, has a launch mass of around 60 tons and a maximum range (depending on the payload) of around 11,000 km. It will be finished by Lockheed-Martin as the prime contractor. Between 1989 and 2007, 425 missiles were manufactured under the original contract for the US Navy. Due to the extension of the Ohio SSBN class, an extension of the service time of the Trident II D5 became necessary. Therefore, the US Navy ordered 108 new Trident II D5LEs (LE - Life Extended) in 2007 for a total value of US $ 15 billion. The first 12 missiles were delivered in 2008, the rest are to follow by 2012 and from 2013 replace older missiles, which are to be used in test flights. The Trident II D5 currently has 134 successful flights in a row between 1989 and 2010, which makes it the most successful "large rocket" both in comparison to other ballistic missiles and launch vehicles.

The Trident II D5 can carry up to 12 warheads, but under the START-1 contract this number was limited to 8 warheads per missile. In the “Nuclear Notebook” of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the authors estimate the number per missile at an average of four, which leads to a total of 1152 warheads stationed. However, more than 2000 warheads for the Trident II D5 are in the inactive inventory and can be installed on top of the missiles if necessary. The missile carries three different types of warheads, the W76 -0 / Mk4 (100 kT), the W76-1 / Mk4A (100 kT) and W88 / Mk5 (475 kT). A total of around 3400 W76-0 / Mk4 were produced up to 1986. As there were doubts about the safety and the warhead, an intensive warhead improvement program was initiated in 2000. The Bush administration decided in 2005 to convert about two thirds of the W76-0 / Mk4 to W76-1 / Mk4A. The new warhead is not only improved in terms of safety and reliability, its new ignition system also leads to increased accuracy and now allows the use of the warhead against "hard" targets, which significantly increases the military operational capability of the US SSBN fleet. The W88 / Mk5 is one of the youngest warheads in the US arsenal, around 400 units were built in 1988 and 1989. It is currently the most powerful missile warhead in the United States with the highest explosive power and accuracy. For January 2009 a number of 718 W76-0 / Mk4, 50 W76-1 / Mk4A and 384 W88 / Mk5 on 288 Trident II D5 is assumed. The UK also uses the Trident II D5 along with a modification of the W76 on its Vanguard- class SSBN as its currently only nuclear weapons system. 16 aircraft of the type Boeing E-6 B Tacamo (stands for take charge and move out ) are to be modernized and serve as command and liaison aircraft to the strategic submarines (SSBNs).

Tactical weapons

During the Cold War, the US Navy also had a large inventory of tactical nuclear weapons. This included free-falling bombs for naval aircraft as well as nuclear-armed torpedoes and depth charges as well as cruise missiles for under- and surface ships. However, due to a 1994 agreement with Russia, there are no longer any tactical nuclear weapons on US Navy ships. Since the mid-1990s, the US Navy has only had nuclear-armed cruise missiles for fighting targets on land, so-called TLAM / N ( Tomahawk Land Attack Missile / Nuclear). The cruise missiles are stored at Kings Bay Naval Bases in Georgia and Bangor Washington along with the US Navy's strategic nuclear weapons. About 100 TLAM / N belong to the active population and can be fired by about a dozen of the 53 American SSNs . Another 200 are part of the inactive stock. The TLAM / N are each equipped with a type W80 -0 warhead . A program to extend the deployment time for the TLAM / N and its warhead is not planned and its deployment is expected to end in 2013.

Nuclear weapon complex

Research, development and testing

The United States has three national laboratories entrusted with research on nuclear weapons: the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico , the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California , and the Sandia National Laboratories with two locations in Albuquerque , New Mexico, and Livermore, California. These institutes are operated by contractors for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which reports to the Department of Energy . The Nevada Test Site for nuclear weapons tests is also subordinate to the NNSA . Due to a moratorium, nuclear weapons tests have not been carried out since 1992; according to statements by the NNSA, testing can be resumed within 24 months. The Vandenberg Air Force Base is used as a launch site for Minuteman III test. Trident II D5 missile launches are from Ohio-class submarines in restricted areas off the coast of Florida and California. The target areas for the uncharged warheads of the missiles are mostly in the vicinity of the Kwajalein -Atoll or Guams .

Production facilities

The Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge , Tennessee , is the US central facility for the processing and storage of weapons-grade uranium for the nuclear weapons program and the reactors of the US Navy submarines. However, there has been no new production of this material in the USA since the mid-1960s. Tritium for the nuclear weapons program is produced at the Savannah River facility in Aiken , South Carolina . Non-nuclear components for nuclear weapons are manufactured at the Kansas City Plant in Kansas City , Missouri . The Pantex facility near Amarillo , Texas is responsible for the completion and dismantling of weapons. While the USA dismantled an average of 1,800 weapons per year in the 1990s and the all-time high in 1969 was 3,045 dismantled warheads, only 150 warheads were scrapped in 2006. That number has risen to around 300 in 2008. The plant for the production of plutonium cores in Rocky Flats was closed after an FBI raid in 1989, abruptly ending the production of new US nuclear weapons. It was only in 2007 that the first new certifiable plutonium core since 1989 was manufactured at the TA-55 facility in Los Alamos. The plant is expected to produce up to 10 cores per year, initially for the W88 to replace cores destroyed for test purposes. After that, cores for other weapons will also be produced. New weapons should not be added to the arsenal, according to President Barack Obama . The development program for the Reliable Replacement Warhead was rejected twice by the US Congress in 2007 and 2008.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ - US Nuclear Forces 2009

↑ ^a ^b ^c Nuclear Posture Review 2010 (pdf; 2.8 MB)

↑ Le Monde diplomatique, April 9, 2010: The bomb remains

↑ US nuclear weapons inventory at nuclearweaponarchive.org ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.

↑ - Global nuclear stockpiles, 1945–2006

↑ United States Reaches Moscow Treaty Warhead Limit Early

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Russianforces.org - There are many ways to count launchers.

↑ START figures for July 1, 2009 at state.gov ( memento of the original from November 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ START figures for January 2009 at state.gov ( memento of the original from July 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ START figures for 2008 at cdi.org ( Memento of the original from May 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
↑ START figures for 1990 at fas.org
↑ US Nuclear Forces, 2000 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2
↑ US nuclear forces, 2005 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2
↑ US nuclear forces, 2010 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2
↑ Flying Nuclear Bombs
^ Nuclear Safety and the Saga About the Missing Bent Spear
^ US Nuclear Weapons Withdrawn From the United Kingdom
^ US Strategic Submarine Patrols Continue at Near Cold War Tempo
↑ ^a ^b Trident II D5 - current developments - at globalsecurity.org
^ SSBN Successfully Launches Multiple Ballistic Missiles
↑ Report on the Mk4A's new ignition system on British warheads
^ Report on the nuclear plans of Great Britain
^ Japan, TLAM / N, and Extended Deterrence
^ ^A ^b ^c Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States - Final Report
^ W88 at nuclearweaponarchive.org

[us2009-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ - US Nuclear Forces 2009

[npr2010-2] Nuclear Posture Review 2010 (pdf; 2.8 MB)

[3] Le Monde diplomatique, April 9, 2010: The bomb remains