— The shrinkage in the deployed number of U.S. strategic nuclear warheads from Mar. 1, 2012 (1,737) to Sept. 1, 2012 (1,722). That’s according to a new State Department tally detailing how U.S. and Russian deployed long-range nuclear weapons are declining (us) or not (them) under the New START [Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty] agreement.
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The number of Russian-deployed weapons actually increased from 1,492 to 1,499 over the same six-month period (shhhhh—think of it as Don’t Blast, Don’t Tell). New START sets a limit of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads for each side, so the Russians remain under the ceiling, even as their deployed strategic arsenal grew — cue Dr. Evil — by 0.47%
If the U.S. were to maintain this pace of reduction into the future, it would get rid of its final deployed nuclear weapon in 2070.
