Reduction in UK Nuclear Warheads Begins

The programme for implementing the reductions in the number of UK nuclear warheads, as announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), has commenced, Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox announced today.

As part of his statement on the SDSR on 19 October 2010 Prime Minister David Cameron said that the Government had reviewed the UK's deterrence requirements and concluded that the requirement could be met for an effective and credible deterrent with a smaller nuclear weapons capability.

Mr Cameron said that over the next few years the current deployed capability would be reduced in scale and this reduction would be incorporated into plans for the successor submarine.

Therefore the number of warheads on board each submarine would be reduced from a maximum of 48 to a maximum of 40, the number of operational missiles on the Vanguard Class submarines would be reduced to no more than eight, and the number of operational warheads reduced from fewer than 160 to no more than 120.

Dr Fox in a written ministerial statement said today:

"I wish to inform the House that the programme for implementing the SDSR warhead reductions has commenced: at least one of the Vanguard Class ballistic missile submarines [SSBN] now carries a maximum of 40 nuclear warheads.

"The programme of work to complete these changes across the Vanguard SSBN fleet will be completed within the constraints of the deterrent's operational programme. We currently expect completion to be made within this Parliament.

"The Government does not comment upon the operational programme and therefore ongoing updates on this implementation programme will not be given.

"I will update the House further once the changes have been completed across the current SSBN fleet and the SDSR commitment to reducing our stock of operationally deployed warheads has been fulfilled.

"On current plans our expectation is that the subsequent reduction in our total stockpile to no more than 180 warheads will complete by the mid-2020s.

"The early commencement of the programme for these reductions in warheads is a significant step and further demonstrates the Government's commitment to fulfilling the UK's disarmament obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

"The Government remains committed to maintaining the minimum credible deterrent necessary to achieve our deterrence objectives of guaranteeing national security."

US Seeking to Sabotage Pakistan's Nuclear Facilities

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated on Tuesday that Washington is seeking to sabotage and damage Pakistan's nuclear facilities in a bid to undermine the country's security and sovereignty and prolong its military presence in the region.

"We have precise information that the US is seeking to sabotage Pakistan's nuclear facilities in a move to weaken the Pakistani nation and government to dominate that country," Ahmadinejad said in a press conference here in Tehran minutes ago.

He also underlined that Americans also want to use the UN Security Council and other international bodies and organizations as a leverage to pave the way for their extended military deployment in the region and also to weaken Pakistan's national sovereignty.

Ahmadinejad's remarks came nearly two weeks after NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons is a matter of concern.

Pakistan sought on Wednesday to play down Iranian warning that the United States was planning to sabotage its nuclear facilities by emphasising that its atomic programme was safe and secure.

“Pakistan is a nuclear-weapon state. This is an established fact. We do not comment on our strategic programme,” was the brief Foreign Office response to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s warning

Pak-Iran relations have a long history of mistrust. Some officials believe that the warning was a political move by President Ahmadinejad to dissipate the pressure on his own nuclear programme after IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, reported to have received information about existence of possible military dimensions in Iran’s nuclear programme.

India And Russia Will Start Producing Equipment For Nuclear Power Plants Together

A Russian-Indian joint venture for the production of equipment for nuclear power plants (NPP) will be set up in India before the end of the year, Director General of the AtomEnergoMash Company Vladimir Kashchenko said on the sidelines of the International Atomexpo-2011 Forum that opened in Moscow.

In his words, the joint venture will be set by an Indian enterprise, which is ready to produce NPP equipment under Russia’s technologies.

“Currently, India has got several enterprises of rather high technological market, which may become participants in the Russian-Indian joint venture,” Kashchenko said.

“In addition, India is a very promising market of nuclear technological equipment for the entire Asian region,” he stressed.

The AtomEnergoMash director general is confident that the joint venture of the kind is “the prototype for the setting up of a regional structure for the production of atomic technological equipment, which may be exported to other countries of the region.”

“If the Asian market of nuclear technologies develops rather intensively, then the Russian-Indian joint ventures will be very interesting and promising project, which will be beneficial both for India and Russia,” Kashchenko said.

In his words, “the project of the joint venture has always been coordinated in full. It is expected that the first supply contracts will be ready this year.”

Touching upon the AtomEnergoMash’s economy, Kashchenko said that this year’s portfolio of orders is estimated at 80 billion roubles (USD 1 = RUB 27.77). as well as 50 percent of all orders are projects of the atomic industry.

(source Itar Tass)

Indian And Pakistan Stockpiling Nuclear Weapons At A Rapid Rate

India and Pakistan, are stockpiling nuclear weapons at a rapid pace. Trying to out do each other the two nations have added an almost identical 20 to 30 warheads in the last one year, a leading Swedish think tank said Tuesday.

Country	Deployed warheads*	Other warheads	Total 2011	Total 2010
USA	2150	6350	8500	9600
Russia	2427	8570	11000	12000
UK	160	65	225	225
France	290	10	300	300
China		200	240	240
India		80-100	80-110	60-80
Pakistan		90-110	90-110	70-90
Israel		80	80	80
Total	5027	15500	20530	22600

In its yearbook for 2011, the Stockholm International Peace Research Insitute (SIPRI) also pointed out that India and Pakistan continued with the development and deployment of ballistic and cruise missiles that are capable of delivering nuclear weapons, estimated to be 110 warheads with each of the countries.

India, said the SIPRI yearbook, currently holds about 80 to 110 nuclear warheads, about 30 more than its estimated to be 60-80 a year ago. Pakistan too boasts of about 90 to 110 warheads, up by 20 warheads from 70-90 in 2010.

"India and Pakistan, which along with Israel, are de facto nuclear weapons states outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), continue to develop new ballistic and cruise missile systems capable of delivering nuclear weapons. They are also expanding their capacities to produce fissile material for military purposes," the yearbook, released in Stockholm, said.

India has no means for officially releasing data on its nuclear weapons stock, but SIPRI's estimates seem to be based on calculations of the country's inventory of weapons-grade plutonium as well as the number of operational nuclear-capable delivery systems.

India currently operates 20 nuclear reactors, mostly meant for civilian energy use. Pakistan operates two plutonium production reactors, and construction work on two more such facilities appears to be under way.

While India has maintained a "no first use" policy for its nuclear weapons ever since it declared itself a nuclear weapons state following its 1998 Pokhran tests, Pakistan has not pronounced its intentions of not using its strategic weapons first if there is a sub-continental conflict.

SIPRI's yearbook also noted that the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan and Israel possessed more than 20,530 nuclear weapons as of January 2011, a drop of 2,130 from 2010.

Of these, 5,027 are deployed and are ready to fire, including nearly 2,000 that are kept in a state of high operational alert, it said, adding that 2,150 of these are with the US, 2,427 with Russia, 160 with Britain and 290 with France.

Iranian WMD Arsenal Grows Despite Sanctions

Despite security council sanctions on Iran prohibiting development of Nuclear weapons and their delivery system yet both the ballistic missile program and the nuclear program keeps on growing.

The nuclear program has active support of Russia and the ballistic missile program is being supported by North Korea. It has been reported that Iran has already started enriching weapons grade uranium for its two missiles Shahab-1- and Shahab-2 with the help of Nort Korea. On top of that they have imported 19-20 BM-25 missiles from North Korea.

Beside North Korea it is the Syrians who are actively helping in this clandestine transfer of weapons. South Korea, Nigeria,Singapore,Italy have all confiscated sophisticated weapons and explosives hidden with normal goods either coming from Iran or going to Iran. In some case like in Nigeria some Iranian officials had to flee the country too.

Iran has floated quite a few bogus companies which work like fronts and try to buy dual use products from the west which can be later used for weponization. UN has asked its member countries to move against such firms and maintain strict end-user checks to help prevent this kind of fraud.

Latest USA Russia Nuclear Arsenal Data Released

The United States has 30 percent more deployed long-range ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads than former Cold War foe Russia, according to new data released Wednesday by the State Department.

Both countries are required to report key figures from their nuclear weapons arsenals as part of the landmark new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) adopted by Moscow and Washington on February 5.

The United States has 882 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and heavy bombers, compared with 521 for Russia, according to the State Department, which published the new START aggregate numbers.

The United States also has 1,800 deployed warheads and 1,124 launchers, as well as deployed and non-deployed heavy bombers, compared with Russia's 1,537 deployed warheads and 865 launchers and heavy bombers, according to the figures.

The figures are current as of February 5, 2011, "as drawn from the initial exchange of data by the parties" that was required within 45 days of the treaty coming into force.

The new START limits each side to 1,550 deployed warheads and 700 deployed ICBMs and SLBMs and heavy bombers, meaning the United States would still need to reduce its arsenal under the terms of the treaty.

The first nuclear pact in two decades has been feted as vital to global security because it reduces old warhead ceilings by 30 percent from a limit set in 2002, and establishes a streamlined new inspection procedure designed to eliminate cheating.

In October 2009, two months before the end of the original START treaty, the State Department issued strategic offensive arms figures that showed the United States possessed 5,916 "attributed" warheads, compared to Russia's 3,897.

A person familiar with START described it as a "totally different counting system" than the new START, which uses a more accurate counting in listing 1,800 actually deployed US warheads on ICBMs, SLBMs or heavy bombers.

A more realistic comparison, the person told AFP, would be with the approximately 2,150 operationally deployed strategic US nuclear warheads listed as of last December.

In May 2010, after extensive debate within President Barack Obama's administration, the Pentagon revealed the extent of its nuclear arsenal for the first time.

It said the US stockpile of nuclear weapons consisted of 5,113 warheads, including active warheads ready for deployment at short notice, as well as "inactive" warheads maintained at a depot in a non-operational status.

The new START accord limits still allow for enough weaponry to blow up the world many times over.Obama has described the treaty as a modest step toward "a world without nuclear weapons," but stressed he knew the goal would not be reached quickly and would take "patience and persistence."

China Rejects UN Nuclear Report

Beijing on Tuesday downplayed a United Nations report indicating that prohibited missile technology was shared by North Korea and Iran through a third country that diplomats have said was China.

"This so-called 'internal UN document' is a UN expert group report. It does not represent the Security Council's position or the position of the Security Council sanctions committee," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

According to UN diplomats, a Chinese representative on a UN panel of seven experts on North Korean nuclear sanctions refused to sign the report, which said prohibited material was moved through a "neighbouring third country".

The country is not named in the report, excerpts of which were provided to AFP, but diplomats
said it was China, isolated North Korea's closest ally.

The ministry declined to address the allegations when asked about them earlier Tuesday during a regular press briefing, insisting only that China was "earnest and responsible in implementing Security Council resolutions".

The UN Security Council imposed sanctions against North Korea after it carried out two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. It is banned from dealing in nuclear and ballistic material.

"Prohibited ballistic missile-related items are suspected to have been transferred between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Islamic Republic of Iran on regular scheduled flights of Air Koryo and Iran Air," the report said.

Air Koryo and Iran Air are the national airlines of North Korea and Iran. Iran also faces UN sanctions over its nuclear programme.

Six-nation talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons drive have been stalled since December 2008, and proliferation fears were heightened last November when the North said it had a uranium enrichment plant.

China has sought to bring North Korea back into the negotiations, which also include South Korea, Japan, Russia and the United States.

The US special envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, held talks with officials in Seoul on Tuesday.