We’re about to go nuclear with the 6 countries with most nuclear weapons. Around the year 1939 a development project was created, named the Manhattan Project. This military project involved hundreds of thousands of people, including military personnel, scientists and other great minds. In the span of a few years they had created what would be one of the most feared weapons man has ever created, the nuclear bomb.
The first two bombs used in combat were named “Little Man” and “Fat Boy”. The two of them used different materials (one uranium and the other plutonium) that caused explosions so devastating that they claimed the lives of 200,000 people in the regions of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. This eventually led to the defeat of Japan in World War II, as well as established nuclear bombs one of the most dangerous weapons of the world. The massive death toll made many of the people involved in the project regret their participation.
No detonation occurred after those two historic bombings. Aside from open site testing, countries have made a sort of silent vow not to use nuclear weapons again. Despite this, many countries continue to develop nuclear weapons in fear of an attack and also to state that they are ready if it is necessary to use them. This has led to quite the tension at times between different countries and even paranoia to those who might think the threat of a nuclear bomb may be at hand.
For this list, we take into account just the pure number of nuclear warheads each country has and rank them according to which has more nuclear weapons. If you’re looking for more military might check out the list of The 10 Most Powerful Countries in the World: Military.
There have been many campaigns against the use and production of nuclear weapons, many organisations, and concerned individuals have been taking steps to promote stopping and removing nuclear weapons from military armaments. Even governments have expressed concern and have supported this type of movement. Despite this, the threats of having other countries possess warheads have stopped any sort of ceasing action from any of these other countries.
Some countries have more than others and about 9 countries in the world already account for around 16,000 nuclear warheads both active and stocked, you’d be surprised at how much a country is actually ready for nuclear warfare, so let’s go ahead and start the list.
6. Pakistan
With the recent wars and tension among neighbouring countries, Pakistan has made a significant effort to bolster its military force. Included with this is the active creation and increase of their nuclear arsenal. Today they have around 100-120 nuclear arsenals in their country and territories.
5. United Kingdom
A country that has repeatedly discussed interest in removing nuclear weapons and even overhauling the system, the United Kingdom still has about 225 nuclear warheads at its disposal. They maintain a fleet of submarines that are armed with around 16 missiles each, prepared if necessary.
4. China
The Asian power has reportedly around 250 nuclear weapons made and ready, though recent actions of the country have indicated that they are not making any more missiles. China nuclear warheads are deliverable by different means, and can be fired from the air, water or land.
The list of the 6 countries with the most nuclear weapons is halfway through. With this we count about 595 nuclear warheads already mentioned, and there are much more in the last three countries in the list.
3. France
With warheads deliverable by both air and sea, France maintains around 300 nuclear warheads, with a boat that continues to patrol, ready to be armed if need be. France stands at third in this list with that number.
2. United States
The United States spends a lot of its resources on creation of nuclear weapons. The number of warheads they have isn’t even close to the previous countries mentioned on this last as they have around 7315 warheads in different parts of the country. The United States is the creator of the nuclear bomb and the only country to have ever used it in combat.
1. Russia
The largest arsenal of nuclear warheads in the world goes to Russia. With 8000 warheads at their disposal, much of Russia’s military funds are spent in creation and improvement of nuclear warheads and their delivery systems. Russia is the second country to have been able to create nuclear weapons after the US.
I guess none of us might have guessed the sheer number of nukes each country might have possessed. Some may even deny the actual number they have or deny them having any weapons. Regardless, we should always be aware, pray and hope that none of these ever get released again. That’s it for our list of the 6 countries with most nuclear weapons.
