Where US Hides World War 3 Nuclear Weapons

How many nuclear weapons does the US actually have? As of this year, estimates put the US nuclear stockpile at around 5,500 total, with around 3,700 active nuclear warheads. 1,744 are currently deployed: 1,344 on ballistic missiles, 300 at various strategic bomber sites around the country, and a further 100 at air bases around Europe. Another 1,950 active warheads are stockpiled in silos, as a sort of hedge in case of political or military catastrophes. The United States thus possesses the second-largest nuclear arsenal on earth, falling slightly behind Russia’s numbers.

Together, these two countries make up roughly 90 percent of the estimated 12,700 nuclear weapons around the globe today. Yet, this is still a far lower total than in past decades; at the height of the Cold War, the US alone maintained more than 10,000 active nuclear warheads as a deterrent against the Soviet Union. So, how and why did America build this massive arsenal of world-ending weapons? As the first country to develop nuclear weapons and the only one to use them in combat, the US has played a significant role in the history of weapons of mass destruction. But the story of their development actually began in Berlin, Germany in 1938. There, scientists discovered nuclear fission, a reaction in which the nucleus of an atom is split, creating multiple lighter elements and releasing an incredible amount of energy. It’s the energy released by fission that powers atomic weapons.

These findings were confirmed by the splitting of a Uranium atom in January of 1939, and even before the results were published, news had traveled across the Atlantic, making the US government nervous about the Nazi’s scientific capabilities. These fears escalated after the outbreak of World War II in Europe. In September 1939, physicist Albert Einstein –concerned that the Nazis would develop nuclear weapons before the Allies– wrote a letter to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging the US to stockpile Uranium and begin work on its own nuclear weapons project. Despite Einstein’s urging, progress was slow for several years– but on December 28th, 1942, Roosevelt formally authorized the Manhattan Project, a top-secret effort bringing scientists and military officials together to develop atomic weapons. Most of the Manhattan Project’s work took place in Los Alamos, New Mexico, under the direction of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, today known as the “father of the atomic bomb”.

After several years of intensive work, the project was successful. On July 16th, 1945, on a remote patch of desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico, the first ever nuclear weapon was detonated. Code-named the “Trinity Test”, this event ushered in the world’s first Atomic Age. The scientists of the Manhattan Project created two varieties of types of nuclear bombs, a Uranium-based bomb known as “Little Boy”, and a Plutonium-based model called “Fat Man”. While World War II in Europe had ended with Nazi Germany surrendering in May 1945, fighting continued between US and Japanese forces in the Pacific. In July, President Harry Truman released the Potsdam Declaration, promising “prompt and utter destruction” for Japan if it did not surrender. Then, on August 6th, 1945, the US dropped its “Little Boy” bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Exploding with 13 kilotons of force (equivalent to 13,000 tons of TNT), the bomb vaporized the 5 square miles around where it was detonated, killing over 80,000 people instantly. In the following weeks, thousands of Japanese citizens would die from radiation exposure.

Three days later, the second bomb, “Fat Man”, was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, killing over 40,000 on impact and again leveling much of the city. On August 15th, Japan’s emperor Hirohito announced the country’s unconditional surrender, citing the power of “a new and most cruel bomb”. For a short time after World War II, the US remained the world’s only nuclear power. But several years later, the Soviet Union was able to steal plans for a fission bomb, and on August 29th, 1949, tested their first successful nuclear weapon. In response, the US began a program to develop advanced “Thermonuclear” weapons, which use both fission and fusion to create an explosion hundreds or thousands of times more powerful than first-generation atomic bombs. This marked the beginning of the Cold War arms race, during which the US and Soviet Union would both stockpile tens of thousands of these weapons –first as conventional bombs, and later mounted on Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, or ICBMs.

These huge arsenals were seen as a deterrent against one another, under the doctrine of so-called Mutually Assured Destruction, or MAD. Despite the threat of mutual annihilation under MAD, the Cold War almost led to the use of nuclear weapons several times. The most famous of these was the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. The US, under the rule of President John F. Kennedy, discovered that the USSR had positioned nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles from the US coast. Kennedy imposed a naval blockade around Cuba, leading to a thirteen-day standoff where the world stood on the brink of nuclear war. The crisis ended when Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba, in return for the US promising not to invade Cuba and secretly removing some of its own nuclear weapons from Eastern Europe. Following the crisis, and the emergence of a strong anti-nuclear movement, the US and USSR signed the first Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968, separating the world into nuclear and non-nuclear states.

Nuclear states, including the US, Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, and China, agreed not to use or spread nuclear technology, while also reducing their own stockpiles, while non-nuclear states agreed not to develop their own nuclear weapons. While Cold War tensions rose once again in the 1970s and 80s, fears of nuclear war finally declined with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. During the early 21st Century, fears of nuclear war remained relatively low, and both the US and Russia continued to reduce their stockpiles. But in recent years, the tension between Russia and the US over Ukraine has led to renewed fears of a nuclear standoff or worse. Today, the US nuclear arsenal is still structured much as it was during the Cold War, split between a “nuclear triad” of land, air, and sea-based weapons, which give the country first and second-strike capability anywhere on the planet. The land-based portion of the US nuclear triad is primarily made up of 400 LGM-30G Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles.

First developed in the late 1950s, the Minuteman weapon system was revolutionary. By using solid rocket fuel the missiles were ready for launch at any time, meaning the US could respond to a nuclear attack on short notice. The current Minuteman III missiles are just under 60 feet in length and weigh about 75,000 pounds each. They have a range of roughly 6,200 miles, a ceiling of 700 vertical miles, and a top speed of Mach 23, more than 15,000 miles per hour. In 1970, upgrades to the Minuteman systems made them the first ICBMs to use multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), a type of payload containing multiple nuclear warheads designed to hit separate targets. The missiles are stored in fortified silos, connected to a subterranean launch control center through a system of hardened cables. From the launch control center, two-man launch crews perform around-the-clock drills to prepare for the possibility of a nuclear attack. Advanced communication systems provide instant contact between the president and launch crews, and, in the event of communication loss, specially configured E-6B airborne launch control center aircraft are designed to take control of the missiles to carry out a strike.

According to the Department of Defense, the current Minuteman III ICBMs are split between the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming; the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana; and the 91st Missile Wing at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota. The air-based leg of the nuclear triad is divided between two types of nuclear-capable bombers, with 46 aircraft in total. First is the B-52H Stratofortress, an ultra-long-range, heavy bomber capable of performing a variety of missions. First developed in the 1950s and 60s, the Stratofortress has an incredibly powerful sensor array for precision targeting, has a range of more than 8,800 miles, and is capable of aerial refueling, allowing it to fly almost indefinitely. During maritime operations, two B-52s can monitor over 140,000 square miles of ocean in two hours. Each bomber is able to carry nuclear weapons, up to 70,000 pounds of ordinance, including gravity bombs, cluster bombs, precision-guided missiles, and joint direct attack munitions. The second bomber in the air-based triad is the B-2A Spirit, an ultra-high altitude stealth bomber which can penetrate enemy air defenses.

Developed in the late 1980s, and utilized in Serbia, Afghanistan, and other conflicts. The Spirit’s key advantage is its “low observability” or stealth technology, which, according to the DoD “is derived from a combination of reduced infrared, acoustic, electromagnetic and visual and radar signatures.” This makes it extremely difficult for air defense systems to detect and engage a Spirit, allowing it to easily drop its 40,000 pounds of payload. The system is able to carry nuclear warheads, and they have a range of 6,000 miles, as such, they can strike targets anywhere on Earth. Finally, the sea-based portion of the US nuclear triad consists of 14 Ohio-Class Ballistic Missile Submarines (SSBNs). Often known as “boomers”, these submarines serve as undetectable launch platforms for missiles, and are designed specifically for the delivery of nuclear warheads. Ohio-class subs are longer than two football fields and weigh over 18,000 tons a piece.

Every Ohio SSBN can carry up to 20 submarine-launched Trident II ballistic missiles with a striking range of 4,000 miles, each containing up to 12 MIRVs. When fired, a Trident II reenters the atmosphere at Mach 24 speeds and splits apart into multiple payloads of over 100 kilotons; effectively, a full salvo from an Ohio-class submarine can unleash 192 nuclear warheads in under a minute, enough to level 24 cities at once. Due to this enormous payload capacity, the sea-based leg of the nuclear triad actually contains about 70% of the active US nuclear arsenal. The main advantage of Ohio-class subs as a nuclear deterrent is that they are nearly undetectable and can stay submerged for more than 70 days at a time. This makes them both a first and second-strike weapon which cannot be destroyed in retaliation, giving the US a strategic edge in any potential nuclear war. From the days of World War II, through the Cold War, and to the present day, the US nuclear arsenal has remained a powerful deterrent against enemies. But it is also a dangerous one, as the chance of nuclear war casts a long shadow over human civilization.

By: Tannor Cannon | Dec 16, 2022

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