Washington: Pakistan now appears to have
overtaken India in the number of atomic war heads, with China
having about three times the number of nukes than New Delhi.
Pakistan has 70-90 strategic nuclear weapons, as against
India`s 60-80, according to the latest table of Nuclear
Weapons Inventories 2010 released by the Bulletin of the
Atomic Scientists.
"Both Pakistan and India are increasing their arsenals,"
it said.
"Neither India nor Pakistan has released official
information to the public regarding the size of their nuclear
arsenals, said the report `Global nuclear weapons inventories,
1945-2010` authored by Robert S Norris and Hans M Kristensen.
Russia tops the list with 12,000 warheads followed by the
US 9,400, France 300, China 240, UK 225 and Israel, which has
not declared itself as a nuclear weapon state has 60 to 80
weapons.
The inventory has warned that Pakistan, India, Israel,
and North Korea have yet not made their nuclear arsenals fully
operational.
"The majority of India`s and Pakistan`s warheads are not
yet operationally deployed. Both countries are believed to be
increasing their stockpiles," the report said.
"India is estimated to have assembled 60-80 warheads and
produced enough fissile material for 60-105 nuclear warheads;
Pakistan is estimated to have assembled 70-90 warheads and
produced fissile material for as many as 90 warheads," it
said.
As for China, the report said, many "strategic" warheads
are for regional use.
"The status of a Chinese nonstrategic nuclear arsenal is
uncertain, and China`s deployed warheads are not thought to be
fully operational (that is, mated with delivery systems).
China holds additional warheads in storage, for a total
stockpile of approximately 240 warheads," it said.
"The US intelligence community predicts that China will
increase its total number of warheads on long-range ballistic
missiles from about 50 to well over 100 in the next 15 years,"
the report said.
PTI
