The United States currently possesses approximately 5,044 nuclear weapons in total inventory, which includes both deployed and reserve warheads as well as retired warheads awaiting dismantlement
. More specifically:
- The U.S. stockpile includes about 3,748 warheads as of September 2023, which are considered active or inactive but still in the stockpile
- There are roughly 2,000 retired warheads scheduled for dismantlement
- According to the New START Treaty data as of June 2023, the U.S. has 665 deployed strategic delivery systems (ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers) carrying around 1,389 nuclear warheads
- Independent estimates from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in May 2024 indicate about 1,770 deployed warheads and 1,938 reserve warheads, totaling 3,708 in the stockpile, with an additional 1,336 retired warheads
Thus, the total U.S. nuclear arsenal inventory is around 5,000 warheads, with about 3,700 to 3,800 warheads currently in the stockpile ready for deployment or reserve, and the rest retired but not yet dismantled
. The U.S. nuclear forces are distributed across land-based missiles, submarine-launched missiles, and strategic bombers, forming a nuclear triad for deterrence
