“Independent analysts estimate the current total world stockpile of nuclear warheads at more than 22,000 – less than a third the number at the peak of the Cold War in the 1980s but still enough for more than 100,000 Hiroshimas.
In May, Washington acknowledged a total stockpile of 5,113 nuclear warheads as of September 2009, down 75 percent from 1989. The U.S. and Russia in April agreed to shrink the limit on a specific type of long-range warheads to 1,550 for each country, down about a third from the current ceiling.”
I’m a young guy of 32, not of the cold war generation, but I had no clue the stockpile on nuclear weapons was at the levels quoted in the story. Would those warheads be of varying sizes for certain uses? Like ground to air missile defense? My uncle worked around NIKE missiles in the late 60’s and talked about equipping NIKE missiles with nuclear warheads for ground to air defense against Soviet bombers.
Can we get by with 1,550?
