Nonstrategic Nuclear Weapons

Woolf, Amy F.

Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service.

关键词: Nuclear weapons;    Arms control;    Defense policy;   

RP-ID  :  RL32572
RP-ID  :  RL32572_2018Feb13

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

This report provides basic information about U.S. and Russian nonstrategic nuclear weapons. It begins with a brief discussion of how these weapons have appeared in public debates in the past few decades, then summarizes the differences between strategic and nonstrategic nuclear weapons. It then provides some historical background, describing the numbers and types of nonstrategic nuclear weapons deployed by both nations during the Cold War and in the past decade; the policies that guided the deployment and prospective use of these weapons; measures that the two sides have taken to reduce and contain their forces, and the 2018 NPR's recommendation for the deployment of new U.S. nonstrategic nuclear weapons. The report reviews the issues that have been raised with regard to U.S. and Russian nonstrategic nuclear weapons, and summarizes a number of policy options that might be explored by Congress, the United States, Russia, and other nations to address these issues.