Declassified U.S. Nuclear Weapon Stockpile Numbers 1945 - 2015
Das Nuklearwaffenpotential der USA in Zahlen 1945 - 2015

 

Year /
Jahr

Weapons built/

Gebaut1

Weapons in Stockpile / Einsatzfähig gelagerte Waffen

Combined Yield /Gesamtsprengkraft 

in Megatonnen (MT)

Weapons retired/

Außer Dienst gestellt1

Weapons Dismantled /

Zerlegte Waffen1

1945

2

2

0,04

0

0

1946

7

9

0,18

0

0

1947

4

13

0,26

0

0

1948

43

50

1,25

6

0

1949

123

170

4,19

3

0

1950

264

299

9,53

135

0

1951

284

438

35,25

145

0

1952

644

841

49,95

241

0

1953

345

1.169

72,80

17

0

1954

535

1.703

339,01

1

0

1955

806

2.422

2.879,99

87

0

1956

1.379

3.692

9.188,65

109

0

1957

2.232

5.543

17.545,86

381

0

1958

2.619

7.345

17.303,54

817

0

1959

7.088

12.298

19.054,62

2.135

0

1960

7.178

18.638

20.491,17

838

0

1961

5.162

22.229

10.947,71

1.571

0

1962

4.529

25.540

12.825,02

766

0

1963

3.185

28.133

15.977,17

830

0

1964

3.493

29.463

16.943,97

2.534

0

1965

3.519

31.139

15.152,50

1.936

0

1966

2.429

31.175

14.037,46

2.357

0

1967

1.693

31.255

12.786,17

1.649

0

1968

536

29.561

11.837,65

2.194

0

1969

684

27.552

11.714,44

3.045

0

1970

219

26.008

9.695,20

1.936

0

1971

1.073

25.830

8.584,40

1.347

0

1972

1.546

26.516

8.531,51

1.541

0

1973

1.171

27.835

8.452,00

544

0

1974

959

28.537

8.325,22

807

0

1975

748

27.519

7.368,38

2.240

0

1976

427

25.914

5.935,51

2.181

0

1977

221

25.542

5.845,00

998

0

1978

50

24.418

5.721,16

1.148

0

1979

170

24.138

5.696,34

730

0

1980

0

24.104

5.618,86

904

732

1981

30

23.208

5.382,91

1.887

1.577

1982

338

22.886

5.358,89

1.537

1.535

1983

217

23.305

5.332,47

749

1.120

1984

187

23.459

5.192,20

1.143

994

1985

195

23.368

5.217,48

1.322

1.075

1986

140

23.317

5.414,54

1.224

1.015

1987

0

23.575

4.882,14

958

1.189

1988

0

23.205

4.789,77

1.023

581

1989

0

22,217

4.743,34

1.794

1.208

1990

0

21.392

4.518,91

n.a.

1.154

1991

0

19.008

3.795,94

n.a.

1.595

1992

0

13.708

3.167,88

n.a.

1.856

1993

0

11.511

2.647,31

n.a.

1.556

1994

0

10.979

2.375,30

n.a.

1.369

1995

0

10.904

n.a.

n.a.

1.393

1996

0

11.011

n.a.

n.a.

1.064

1997

0

10.903

n.a

n.a.

498

1998

0

10.732

n.a.

n.a.

1.062

1999

0

10.685

n.a.

n.a.

206

2000

0

10.577

n.a.

n.a.

158

2001

0

10.526

n.a.

n.a.

144

2002

0

10.457

n.a.

n.a.

344

2003

0

10.027

n.a.

n.a.

222

2004

0

8.570

n.a.

n.a.

206

2005

0

8.360

n.a.

n.a.

280

2006

0

7.853

n.a.

n.a.

253

2007

0

5.709

n.a.

n.a.

545

2008

0

5.273

n.a.

n.a.

648

2009

0

5.113

n.a.

n.a.

356

2010

0

5.066

n.a.

n.a.

352

2011

0

4.897

n.a.

n.a.

305

2012

0

4.881

n.a.

n.a.

308

2013

0

4.804

n.a.

n.a.

239

2014

0

4.727

n.a.

n.a.

299 

 2015

0

 4.571

n.a.

n.a.

 109

 


 



 

1 Definitions

”Builds numbers reported are total annual quantities for fully retired weapon systems in 1995. This represents a subset of United States nuclear weapon production. The annual production of nuclear weapons still in the stockpile remain classified and thus is excluded.
Retirement rates from 1984 to 1989 are adjusted from the stockpile memorandum retirement numbers to better reflect the number of weapons truly retired. Retirement numbers reported below reflect weapons retired for conversions, modifications, or disassemblies for disposal. Retirement numbers depend critically on how the term retirement is defined.
Disassemblies reported below reflect only the number of weapons dismantled for actual disposal. It should be noted that raw disassembly numbers published elsewhere by the Department are typically larger reflecting the number of times a weapon is disassembled but not necessarily disassembled for disposal or dismantlement purposes. An example of this would be for repair, a weapon might be disassembled to replace a part and then returned to the stockpile. Records prior to 1980 on disassemblies for disposal are not immediately available but will be provided in the future if possible.”


Sources / Quellen:
Department of Energy, Declassification of Certain Characteristics of the United States Nuclear Weapon Stockpile, 1994. online: https://www.osti.gov/opennet/forms.jsp?formurl=document/press/pc26tab1.html
Department of Defense: Fact Sheet Increasing Transparency in the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Stockpile, 3 May 2010, online: http://www.bits.de/NRANEU/docs/10-05-03_Fact_Sheet_US_Nuclear_Transparency__FINAL_w_Date.pdf (no longer online at: http://www.defense.gov/news/d20100503stockpile.pdf)
Department of State: Transparency in the US Nuclear Weapons Stockpile, 29 April 2014, online: http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/225555.pdf
Kerry, John: Remarks at the 2015 Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, 27 April 2015, online: http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2015/04/241175.htm
Weapons in stockpile include active (operational) and inactive (non-operational) weapons in depots. Additional weapons not yet dismantled exit. Secretary of State, John Kerry  announced in April 2015 that about 2.500 weapons were awaiting dismantlement.
4.727 weapons in active or inactive stockpile plus about 2.500 weapons still to be dismantled and 10.251 weapons already dismanteld add up to a total of about 17.478 warheads whose fate or current status has been officially clarified. Compared with the highest number of weapons in active and inactive stockpile in any given year, 31.255 weapons in 1967, this shows, that many more weapons have been built, whose fate needs further explanation and/or greater transparency. Some weapons have been lost. Others have been rebuilt into more modern models. However, can this – together with the above definitions - explain the differences?