Nuclear weapons delivery

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Nuclear weapons
Background
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Nuclear-armed states
NPT recognized United States Russia United Kingdom France China Others India Israel (undeclared) Pakistan North Korea Former South Africa Belarus Kazakhstan Ukraine
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Nuclear weapons delivery is the technology and systems used to place a nuclear weapon at the position of detonation, on or near its target. All nine nuclear states have developed some form of medium- to long-range delivery system for their nuclear weapons. Alongside improvement of weapons, their development and deployment played a key role in the nuclear arms race.

Strategic nuclear weapons are intended primarily as part of a doctrine of deterrence by threatening large targets, such as cities. These are generally delivered by some combination of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, sea-based submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and air-based strategic bombers carrying gravity bombs or cruise missiles. The possession of all three is known as a nuclear triad.

Tactical nuclear weapons are intended for limited military maneuvers such as destroying specific military, communications, or infrastructure targets, and generally have lower yields. Delivery systems developed for them include shorter-range ground-, air-, and sea-launched missiles, nuclear artillery, nuclear land mines, nuclear torpedoes, and nuclear depth charges, but they have become less salient since the end of the Cold War.

Delivery systems were occasionally tested with live warheads as a provocative form of nuclear weapons testing and live fire exercise.

Detection and interception of delivery vehicles is a key part of nuclear deterrence. For detection, early-warning radar and satellite systems were developed. For interception, anti-ballistic missile and air defense systems were developed, some of which were themselves nuclear-armed. Warhead countermeasures developed against these include decoys, multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, and maneuverable reentry vehicles.

Since the end of the Cold War, nuclear weapons delivery has been advanced by stealth bombers and hypersonic weapons.