WNAM REPORT: China is pressing ahead with plans to rapidly upgrade and expand its nuclear weapons arsenal across land, sea and air, according to a new U.S. assessment that offers the most detailed accounting yet of the country’s bid to catch up to the U.S. in an area where it lagged.
The Defense Intelligence Agency’s report details how China is building up a land-based arsenal involving about 300 missile silos, while also expanding its fleet of road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles and further developing a fleet of bombers that carry air-launched ballistic missiles.
“China is undergoing the most rapid expansion and ambitious modernization of its nuclear forces in history — almost certainly driven by an aim for enduring strategic competition with the U.S.,” the Pentagon’s intelligence arm said in its 2024 Nuclear Challenges report. The document also detailed nuclear expansion by Russia and North Korea.
