Washington [US], April 1: The Trump administration will move to modernize the nuclear arsenal without increasing its size, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Fox News.
In an interview with Fox News on March 30, Energy Secretary Chris Wright described the US nuclear arsenal as aging and becoming obsolete. He said the US needed to modernize its nuclear arsenal, saying that Washington had not made any efforts in this direction in the past three decades.
Secretary Wright stressed that modernization does not mean increasing the number of nuclear warheads . "We do not need to increase the number of nuclear weapons," he said, but instead need to ensure everything is in the best condition.
US officials did not provide information on how many warheads would need to be upgraded, or the time frame for completing the modernization effort.
The Manhattan Project, which created the world 's first atomic bomb , equipped the United States with the nuclear capability to "win" the Cold War, the minister said.
Mr. Wright also predicted that the US will improve its nuclear posture in the next few years, thanks to a president who plans to accomplish that goal.
Previously, in early March, President Trump called for the world to disarm nuclear weapons, and predicted that China would have the same number of warheads as the US and Russia within the next 4 to 5 years.
Regarding the above statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that while Russia is ready to negotiate with the US on this issue, the dialogue also needs to consider the nuclear arsenal in Europe.
According to RT, the US has more than 5,000 nuclear warheads, of which 1,770 are deployed. Russia has 5,880 warheads, with about 1,700 deployed. The UK has about 256 warheads and France has 290. The exact number of China's warheads is still unknown, but is estimated at about 600.
In 2010, Russia and the United States signed the New START Treaty, which limited the number of deployed warheads to 1,550. In 2023, Russia suspended its participation in the agreement, citing the West's deep involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper