The list of nuclear powers in the world for 2020 has ten major states. The information on which countries have nuclear potential and in which units it is expressed quantitatively is based on data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and Business Insider.
Nine countries, officially possessing weapons of mass destruction, form the so-called "Nuclear Club".
10.Iran
Number of nuclear warheads: No data.
First test: No data.
Last test: No data.
To date, it is officially known which countries have nuclear weapons. And Iran is not among them. However, he did not stop working on the nuclear program and there are persistent rumors that this country has its own nuclear weapons. The Iranian authorities declare that they can easily build it for themselves, but for ideological reasons they limit themselves only to the use of uranium for peaceful purposes.
So far, Iran's use of the atom is under IAEA control as a result of the 2015 agreement, but the status quo may soon undergo changes.
On January 6, 2020, Iran dropped the latest restrictions on the nuclear deal with the aim of creating nuclear weapons for a possible strike against the United States.
9. DPRK
Number of nuclear warheads: 10-60
First test: 2006 year
Last test: Oct 2018
North Korea is included in the list of countries with nuclear weapons in 2020, to the horror of the Western world. Flirting with the atom in North Korea began in the middle of the last century, when Kim Il Sung, frightened by the US plans to bomb Pyongyang, turned to the USSR and China for help. The development of nuclear weapons began in the 1970s, came to a standstill with the improvement of the political situation in the 90s, and naturally continued as it deteriorated. Since 2004, nuclear tests have been taking place in the “mighty prosperous power”. Of course, as the Korean military assures, for purely harmless purposes - for the purpose of space exploration.
The fact that the exact number of DPRK nuclear warheads is unknown is also adding to the tension. According to some data, their number does not exceed 20, according to others, it reaches 60 units.
8. Israel
Number of nuclear warheads: 80
First test: 1979 year
Last test: 1979 year
Israel has never said that it possesses nuclear weapons - nor did it claim the opposite. The piquancy of the situation is made by the fact that Israel refused to sign the "Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons." Along with this, the "Promised Land" is vigilant about the peaceful and not very atom of its neighbors and, if necessary, does not hesitate to bomb the nuclear centers of other countries - as was the case with Iraq in 1981. According to rumors, Israel has every opportunity to create a nuclear bomb since 1979, when light flashes suspiciously similar to nuclear explosions were recorded in the South Atlantic. It is assumed that either Israel, or South Africa, or both of these states together is responsible for this test.
7. India
Number of nuclear warheads: 120-130
First test: 1974 year
Last test: 1998 year
Despite the successfully detonated nuclear charge back in 1974, India officially recognized itself as a nuclear power only at the end of the last century. However, having detonated three nuclear devices in May 1998, two days later, India announced its refusal to carry out further tests.
6. Pakistan
Number of nuclear warheads: 130-140
First test: 1998 year
Last test: 1998 year
It is no wonder that India and Pakistan, possessing a common border and being in a state of permanent unfriendliness, are striving to overtake and overtake their neighbors - including the nuclear field. After the Indian explosion of 1974, Islamabad's development of its own was only a matter of time. As the then Prime Minister of Pakistan said: "If India builds its own nuclear weapons, we will do ours, even if we have to eat grass." And they did it, albeit with a twenty-year delay.
After India conducted tests in 1998, Pakistan quickly conducted its own, detonating several nuclear bombs at the Chagai test site.
5. United Kingdom
Number of nuclear warheads: 215
First test: 1952 g.
Last test: 1991 year
Great Britain is the only country of the nuclear five that did not conduct tests on its territory. The British preferred to do all nuclear explosions in Australia and the Pacific, but since 1991 it was decided to stop them. True, in 2015, David Cameron turned on the fire, admitting that England, if necessary, is ready to drop a couple of bombs. But he didn’t say who exactly.
4. China
Number of nuclear warheads: 270
First test: 1964 g.
Last test: 1996 year
China is the only country that has pledged not to (or threaten to launch) nuclear strikes against non-nuclear states. And in early 2011, China announced that it would maintain its weapons only at a minimum sufficient level. However, since then, China's defense industry has invented four types of new ballistic missiles that are capable of carrying nuclear warheads. So the question of the exact quantitative expression of this "minimum level" remains open.
3. France
Number of nuclear warheads: 300
First test: 1960 g.
Last test: 1995 year
In total, France conducted more than two hundred nuclear weapons tests - from the explosion in the then French colony of Algeria to the two atolls of French Polynesia.
Interestingly, France has consistently refused to take part in peace initiatives of other nuclear countries. It did not join the moratorium on nuclear testing in the late 50s of the last century, did not sign the treaty banning military nuclear tests in the 60s, and joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty only in the early 90s.
2. USA
Number of nuclear warheads: 6800
First test: 1945 g.
Last test: 1992 year
A country with the most powerful army in the world, is also the first power to carry out a nuclear explosion, and the first and only to date to use nuclear weapons in a combat situation. Since then, the United States has produced 66.5 thousand units of atomic weapons in more than 100 different modifications. The bulk of US nuclear weapons are submarine ballistic missiles. Interestingly, the United States (like Russia) refused to participate in the negotiations on the complete renunciation of nuclear weapons, which began in the spring of 2017.
The US military doctrine states that America reserves enough weapons to guarantee both its own security and that of its allies. In addition, the United States promised not to strike at non-nuclear states if they comply with the terms of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
1.Russia
Number of nuclear warheads: 7000
First test: 1949 g.
Last test: 1990 year
Part of the nuclear weapons was inherited by Russia after the end of the existence of the USSR - the existing nuclear warheads were removed from the military bases of the former Soviet republics.According to the Russian military, they may decide to use nuclear weapons in response to similar actions. Or in the case of strikes with conventional weapons, as a result of which the very existence of Russia will be threatened.
Will there be a nuclear war between the DPRK and the United States
If at the end of the last century the strained relations between India and Pakistan served as the main source of fears of a nuclear war, then the main horror story of this century is the nuclear confrontation between the DPRK and the United States. Threatening North Korea with nuclear strikes has been a good tradition of the United States since 1953, but with the advent of its own atomic bombs, the situation has reached a new level. Relations between Pyongyang and Washington are tense to the limit. Will there be a nuclear war between the DPRK and the United States? Perhaps it will be if Trump decides that the North Koreans need to be stopped before they can create intercontinental missiles that are guaranteed to reach the west coast of the world's stronghold of democracy.
The United States has been keeping nuclear weapons near the DPRK's borders since 1957. And the Korean diplomat says the entire continental United States is now within range of North Korean nuclear weapons.
What will happen to Russia if a war breaks out between the DPRK and the United States? There is no military article in the treaty signed between Russia and the DPRK. This means that when the war breaks out, Russia can remain neutral - of course, by strongly condemning the actions of the aggressor. In the worst scenario for our country, Vladivostok can be covered with radioactive fallout from the destroyed facilities of the DPRK.