USA

OVERVIEW

The U.S. maintains a large but declining arsenal of strategic nuclear warheads, many of which are considered deployed and active.

For most of the Cold War, the U.S. strategic nuclear posture was based on a triad of long-range bombers, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). The triad provided a range of retaliatory options and made it difficult for an enemy to incapacitate retaliatory capability in a pre-emptive first...