The United States and Russia were each deploying fewer strategic nuclear weapons as of March 1 than they did six months earlier, according to the Department of State’s latest data on the bilateral New START nuclear treaty.
Since the last official State-published tally in September 2019, Russia cut more strategic warheads from its arsenal than the U.S.: 100, compared with three. That left Moscow with 1,326 weapons on deployed long-range missiles and strategic bombers, slightly under Washington’s count of
1,373.
Year over year, the U.S. added eight deployed warheads across those same counted forces, as Russia cut 135. The treaty limit is 1,550 deployed strategic warheads, with one bomber counted as a single warhead. Both sides reached that limit in February 2018.
New START took effect in 2011 and limits the number of strategic nuclear weapons that Washington and Moscow may deploy on a mixture of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), heavy bomber aircraft, and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM). It is due to expire next February, but can be extended for up to five years.
President Trump wants to replace New START with a trilateral arms control agreement that also limits China’s nuclear arsenal, and caps other types of nuclear weapons and launchers. Beijing has repeatedly said it will not consider participating in such an accord.
The COVID-19 pandemic has, in any case, put some New START activities on hold.
The Wahsington-based Arms Control Association, citing “diplomatic and Congressional sources,” said this week that the U.S. and Russia agreed to suspend on-site inspections of one another’s arsenals until May 1. Likewise, the New START Bilateral Consultative Commission, where the sides hash out the details of treaty compliance, suspended a scheduled March meeting. The sides will now exchange notices that would have passed through the commission via “regular diplomatic channels,” the nongovernmental pro-disarmament group wrote.
Under the pact, the State Department reports a tally of deployed, treaty-covered warheads and launchers, as of the first days of March and September.
SIX MONTH TOTALS
| US | 9/1/2019 | 3/1/2020 | Change (US) | Change (Russian Federation) | 3/1/2020 | 9/1/2019 | Russian Federation |
| Deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, Heavy Bombers | 668 | 655 | -13 | -28 | 485 | 513 | Deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, Heavy Bombers |
| Warheads on deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and counted for Heavy Bombers | 1376 | 1373 | -3 | -100 | 1326 | 1426 | Warheads on deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and counted for Heavy Bombers |
| Deployed and non-deployed launchers of ICBMs, SLBMs and deployed and non-deployed heavy bombers. | 800 | 800 | 0 | -3 | 754 | 757 | Deployed and non-deployed launchers of ICBMs, SLBMs and deployed and non-deployed heavy bombers. |
ONE YEAR TOTALS
| US | 3/1/2019 | 3/1/2020 | Change (US) | Change (Russian Federation) | 3/1/2020 | 3/1/2019 | Russian Federation |
| Deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, Heavy Bombers | 656 | 655 | -1 | -39 | 485 | 524 | Deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, Heavy Bombers |
| Warheads on deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and counted for Heavy Bombers | 1365 | 1373 | 8 | -135 | 1326 | 1461 | Warheads on deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and counted for Heavy Bombers |
| Deployed and non-deployed launchers of ICBMs, SLBMs and deployed and non-deployed heavy bombers. | 800 | 800 | 0 | -6 | 754 | 760 | Deployed and non-deployed launchers of ICBMs, SLBMs and deployed and non-deployed heavy bombers. |
New START does not cover tactical and novel nuclear weapons. The former are sometimes called battlefield weapons — relatively smaller nukes that theoretically could be used in relatively low numbers to destroy key adversary weapons, troops, or supporting infrastructure. Strategic weapons, launched in great numbers, are capable of destroying an adversary’s entire military and economic infrastructure, along with much of the population.
Novel weapons are strange devices such as the uncrewed, nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed submersible that Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his country is developing. Also included is Russia’s nuclear-armed, nuclear-powered cruise missile, a test version of which is suspected to have killed several Russians last year.
New START will expire on Feb. 2, 2021, unless the U.S. and Russian presidents agree to extend it for five years, through Feb. 2, 2026. The countries had yet to begin talks about an extension, at deadline Thursday.
Russia has said it would extend the treaty. The U.S. continues to press for a new trilateral agreement, with American officials saying there is still time to extend New START, if need be. Critics say Washington is only running out the clock on New START because the Trump administration favors killing the treaty.