India Deploys Nuclear Warheads for First Time as Global Spending Hits Record

India has for the first time placed a dozen nuclear warheads on operational alert, breaking with a decades-long practice of keeping its atomic weapons disassembled and separate from delivery systems. The shift, documented by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in its 2026 yearbook, comes as global spending on nuclear arsenals surged to a record $119 billion in 2025, a 19 per cent increase over the previous year, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). Together, the two assessments paint a picture of a world entering a new nuclear arms race, with all nine nuclear-armed states modernising and expanding their capabilities.

The United States remains by far the largest spender, pouring $69.2 billion into its nuclear forces — more than all other nuclear powers combined — and recording the sharpest annual increase at 22 per cent. China, the second-largest nuclear spender, allocated $13.5 billion, a 7 per cent rise, while the United Kingdom surprised many with a 17 per cent jump to $12.6 billion. Russia, despite its conventional war in Ukraine, increased its nuclear budget by a relatively modest 6 per cent to $9.5 billion. Viewed from European capitals, the spending surge and the deployment of warheads onto missiles — SIPRI estimates between 2,100 and 2,200 are now mated with ballistic delivery systems — signal a dangerous reversal of the post-Cold War disarmament trend, raising the spectre of miscalculation.

India’s doctrinal evolution is particularly striking. SIPRI assesses that New Delhi now possesses 190 warheads, up from 180 a year earlier, and has for the first time classified 12 of them as operationally deployed, primarily linked to its growing fleet of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. This move away from a purely recessed deterrent posture coincides with the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, the 88-hour conflict last year in which Indian strikes hit sites that SIPRI now links to Pakistan’s nuclear infrastructure. Analysts in New Delhi note that the deployment, while modest in scale, signals a willingness to maintain a more ready deterrent against both Pakistan and an increasingly assertive China.

The ICAN report warns that “a new nuclear arms race is upon us,” with plans for further investment locked in for decades. The global stockpile now stands at 12,187 warheads, of which 9,745 are operational. The trend is no longer one of gradual reduction but of competitive modernisation, as states treat nuclear weapons less as a last-resort insurance and more as an instrument of active deterrence. Whether this shift stabilises or destabilises the strategic balance remains an open question, but the direction of travel is unmistakable.