US Nuclear Spending Surges, Surpassing Combined Budget of All Other Nuclear Powers

United States spending on nuclear weapons reportedly surged by almost a quarter last year. The ambitious move by Washington drew sharp scrutiny from an international watchdog, as the budget is now proven to be far larger than the combined nuclear budgets of the world’s eight other nuclear states.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) released its annual report exposing global military lust. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning organisation found that the world’s nine nuclear-armed nations collectively burned through nearly US$119 billion (approximately Rp2,142 trillion) to reinforce their arsenals of mass destruction. This astronomical amount is equivalent to spending US$3,768 every single second.

The United States firmly held its position as the state with the most voracious military appetite on earth, pouring US$69.2 billion (approximately Rp1,245.6 trillion) into its nuclear weapons alone. This figure automatically marks the world’s largest year-on-year increase, with a percentage jump reaching 22 per cent, equivalent to a budget increase of US$12.4 billion in a single year.

ICAN stated that this massive budget surge reflects sustained investment by major powers to modernise and expand their nuclear warheads. This dangerous manoeuvre is deliberately being undertaken amidst escalating geopolitical tensions across various parts of the globe.

Cumulatively, the combined expenditure of the nine nuclear powers—comprising the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea—jumped sharply by 19 per cent, reaching an all-time high. Below the United States, China ranked as the second-largest nuclear spender with a budget reaching US$13.5 billion.

Meanwhile, a major surprise occurred in third place where the United Kingdom unexpectedly overtook Russia in terms of nuclear military budgeting. London recorded an allocation of US$12.6 billion, surpassing Moscow, which cut or capped its spending at US$9.5 billion.

ICAN assessed this arms buildup as a tragic global waste amidst a humanitarian crisis. A single day’s global nuclear spending last year was judged sufficient to provide food for two million people for an entire year, whilst the total annual budget is claimed to be enough to cover the routine operating costs of the United Nations for the next 32 years.

The report on this budget ballooning emerged alongside a strategic Pentagon plan to deploy nuclear weapons to more NATO member states on the European mainland. This military expansion follows several countries bordering Russia, including Poland and the Baltic states, openly expressing interest in hosting US nuclear bombs.

For context, the United States has actually kept hundreds of B61 gravity bombs stationed in parts of Europe under a nuclear sharing programme dating back to the 1950s. Hundreds of these deadly warheads are still believed to be stored securely at military bases in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Turkey, where full control of the launch authority remains under the absolute authority of Washington.

The Western bloc’s plan to expand its nuclear infrastructure immediately triggered a harsh reaction and a dire warning from Moscow. Russia’s Ambassador-at-Large, Andrey Belousov, stressed that any movement of NATO nuclear weapons closer to Russia’s territorial borders would certainly trigger a proportionate military response. Russia is demanding that all US nuclear weapons be immediately withdrawn from European soil and that all supporting infrastructure be completely destroyed to prevent the outbreak of a global nuclear war.