The State Department released the newest set of data on the aggregate numbers of US and Russian strategic nuclear arms. According to the data, current as of Sept. 1, the United States has 1,790 nuclear warheads on 822 deployed launchers (i.e., ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers), and a total of 1,043 deployed and non-deployed launchers. Russia has 1,566 warheads on 516 deployed launchers and a total of 871 deployed and non-deployed launchers. The two nations are required to exchange this information every six months under the provisions of the New START agreement. This is the second set of numbers that they have released. The first set, issued in June, was current as of Feb. 5. New START requires each nation, by February 2018, to have no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads, 700 deployed launchers, and 800 deployed and non-deployed launchers.
It is critical that the Air Force move forward on the replacement for its E-4B “Doomsday” aircraft to keep the capability “viable” into the next decade and beyond, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. told lawmakers May 8.