Trump touts bump in nukes

nuclear brinkmanship,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the independent Arms Control Association nonprofit group.

“Russia and the US have far more weapons than is necessary to deter nuclear attack by the other or by another nuclear-armed country,’ he said.

The new strategic arms limitation treaty between the US and Russia — known as New START — stipulates that by Feb 5, 2018, both countries must limit their arsenals of strategic nuclear weapons to equal levels for 10 years.

The treaty permits both countries to have no more than 800 deployed and nondeployed land-based intercontinental and submarinelaunched ballistic missile launchers and heavy bombers equipped to carry nuclear weapons, and contains equal limits on other nuclear weapons.

Analysts have questioned whether Trump wants to abrogate New START or will begin deploying other warheads.

Trump called New START “a one-sided deal”.

“Just another bad deal that the country made, whether it’s START, whether it’s the Iran deal,” he said.

“We’re going to start making good deals.”

warheads in Russia’s nuclear arsenal, according to the Ploughshares Fund warheads in the US arsenal, the anti-nuclear group says