Pentagon Intel Report Says China Will have 1,000 Nuclear Weapons by 2030

By Jim Morris, Warrior Vice President, News  

There’s a new warning from Pentagon intelligence experts: the US global military advantage is being threatened by rivals who are developing new nuclear-capable delivery systems. 

   That’s the conclusion of the Defense Intelligence Agency’s latest report, “Nuclear Challenges: The Growing Capabilities of Strategic Competitors and Regional Rivals.” The DIA says it provides an “updated, unclassified overview of the nuclear programs of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.” 

   Among the report’s key points: 

   -China is growing its nuclear arsenal faster than was predicted in 2018. The DIA estimates that Beijing already has more than 500 nuclear warheads, and says that number will grow to more than a thousand by 2030, “most of which will be fielded on systems capable of ranging the continental United States.” 

   -Russia’s nuclear stockpile has grown only slightly in the last six years, but still is the largest among US rivals. Moscow is said to have about 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads on intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).  The DIA report says Russia also has up to 2,000 warheads designed for shorter-range delivery systems, known as non-strategic nuclear weapons. 

   -Meanwhile, the DIA says that North Korea continues to increase the stockpile of plutonium and highly enriched uranium to support its nuclear weapons program. And while Iran “almost certainly does not have nuclear weapons and has agreed not to seek, develop, or acquire nuclear weapons,” the report  notes that the Islamic Republic has exceeded agreed-upon treaty limits in several areas, including on the quantity and enrichment levels of its uranium stockpile. 

   The biggest section of the DIA report is devoted to China.