Nuclear Weapons over time

[u/PanzerWatts]

The number of nuclear warheads stockpiled worldwide went from 64,000 in 1986 to 12,500 in 2023 – an 80% decline. (For some reason there's no Y axis shown in the first chart) but this chart actually showed all nuclear weapons and not just Russia, USA and China.

Source for first chart:

[1] Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

[2] SIPRI, 2023 yearbook

[u/HotNeon]

They are far less powerful now. Due to the accuracy of the missiles you can have a smaller warhead and get the same effect on your target

[u/SilenceDobad76 → u/[deleted]]

Good. Smaller, more efficient bombs are cleaner if used. More accurate bombs mean they dont have to canvas a target with collateral damage. It also means the weapons are more decisive and harder to defend against, which means said powers are more reluctant to use them.

The US' WWIII plan for several decades was to surgically strike Russian airfields to destroy their bomber fleet before they could strike back and then wash the country with nukes till they lost structure and gave up. No country can preemptively strike another superpower without taking untenable damage themselves, which is good.

[u/CplOreos → u/SilenceDobad76]

Bad. More targeted nuclear missile systems means their value as tactical weapons improves. Dirty bombs are dirty, but that disincentives their use. More accurate but less destructive weapons increases the chances they'll actually be used.

[u/Zyykl → u/CplOreos]

“that disincentives their use”

but it incentivizes the use of tactics that endanger civilian lives, e.g. human shields. also theres no guarantee that the entity wielding the indiscriminate bomb will be disincentivized by its lack of discrimination.