Nuclear Weapons
North Korea’s new threat: “Core central striking means”
North Korea regularly threatens to turn the South Korean capital Seoul into a “sea of fire” but it is conventional artillery weapons – not nuclear strikes – that have long been…
A big leap in the credibility of India’s nuclear weapons capability
India’s successful test of its Agni-V land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRV) last week represents a…
Why is Putin again threatening a nuclear war?
In his state of the nation speech last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Western support for Ukraine risks triggering a global war. Echoing his rhetoric from the…
By the numbers: China’s nuclear inventory continues to grow
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ 2024 Nuclear Notebook estimates that China now has about 500 nuclear warheads, and more are being produced to equip future delivery systems. Of…
Is there really a nuclear weapon in space?
Alarm was raised in the media this week about a “national security threat” to the United States from Russia, ostensibly a nuclear space-based weapon. The news came after the…
AI’s Oppenheimer moment: Establishing regulations
This era of Artificial Intelligence is coming to be known as the “Oppenheimer moment”, where the rapid development of military AI demands concrete regulatory frameworks to prevent…
Indonesia ratifies nuclear weapons ban treaty. Australia should too.
Indonesia’s parliament last month agreed to ratify the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). This is an important political development, and it…
Australian leadership in Indo‑Pacific nuclear diplomacy
Australia should again take a leadership role in nuclear diplomacy, working with regional neighbours, to reduce nuclear threats in the Indo-Pacific through confidence building and…
French criticism of nuclear ban treaty highlights Canberra’s dilemma
On 28 September, the Assembly of French Polynesia unanimously passed a resolution endorsing the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), the nuclear ban treaty that…
For America’s atomic bomb legacy, the past is present
Over the past few weeks, Oppenheimer, the Hollywood biopic about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the “Father of the Atomic Bomb”, has earned more than US$425 million at the box…