While the issues of the year have become heavily centred around the ruinous COVID-19 pandemic response, the greatest threat to human existence has been forgotten. Considerable amounts of military spending has funded the renewal and fortification of yet more nuclear weapons. In order for a nuclear weapon to be a convincing deterrent, it must have the capacity to destroy a nation and nothing more. While the pact of mutually assured destruction (MAD) has scaled down warfare, the threshold of weapons needed has been surpassed. As a result, this needless spending is just the revival of cold war posturing. Even more terrifyingly, the invention of hypersonic nuclear weapons has cast this pact of MAD into doubt. Resultingly, the crisis of spending has been usurped by a greater issue: the fate of the human race.
As of the 1st of March 2019, the US has 6,185 nuclear warheads. Russia and America have signed agreements and decommissioned major nuclear weapons since 2002. While there has been this gradual process of alleged disarmament, the capacity of destruction wielded is still unnecessary and modern warheads are more powerful than ever. According to Professor Brian Toon in his TED Talk in 2018, the US and Russia have the nuclear capacity to destroy every major city (in excess of 100,000 citizens) in the world 10 times over. Not only is this a grim image, but it is also needlessly powerful and occupies unnecessary spending as a result.
One of the most compelling reasons to remove nuclear weapons is the uncertainty over the morals of world leaders. With every major leader, the fate of human existence is at their fingertips. Great alarm surrounds this uncertain possibility. Notably, the panic over the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and the war of words between Trump with Kim Jon Un (in August 2017 and Iran more recently) exemplified these fears. As films such as Dr Strangelove and Threads have explored, there is a small possibility that nuclear weapons could be used by an uncaring and deranged leader. However, reassuringly these crooked egotists such as Trump and Kim Jong-un have resisted any action as the concept of a modern nuclear war would ensure there is no victor. Disturbingly, this military posturing can breed uncertainty and fear for those not involved.
Despite this, a global leader should project a willingness to consider using nuclear weapons in order to dissuade others from direct military action. This requires a great degree of dishonesty and pragmatism that may be lost upon anti-nuclear activists such as Corbyn for example. In spite of the galling horror of potential nuclear destruction, retaining them deters the frequency and scale of wars between the largest superpowers.
The existence of nuclear weapons with the current mutual assurance of human extinction ensures that they are never used and is therefore desirable. Even if such circumstances do occur, at least nobody will be left to disprove this! With this pact of MAD currently intact, excess funding into the development of newer nuclear weapons is occupying funding that could be redistributed elsewhere. The figure of nuclear spending stood at around $73 billion in 2019 alone despite the fact that threshold of a reciprocal nuclear threat has been already hugely surpassed by Russia and the USA.
Despite the current situation in a balance of nuclear capability, the future of this international deadlock could become severely fractured. With faster and undetectable nuclear missiles, if the threat of reciprocation could be removed, than a nuclear conflict would more likely occur than the current balance of weaponry. The capabilities of modern nuclear weapons are growing exponentially. The reports of “hypersonic” nuclear weapons could allow nations to use nuclear weapons unavenged and damage the desirable pact currently in place. These “hypersonic” nuclear missiles which cannot be shot down are much more susceptible to usage by a brash leader as they would be less consequential. This could be the greatest nuclear danger as it would allow nations to strike first without the fears of reciprocation that has previously constrained nuclear warfare. According to some studies, new hypersonic weapons have the potential to reach Beijing from New York within 20 minutes with improved manoeuvrability. While Russia’s latest weapons test in the Black Sea culminated in a staggered spiral towards the waters below, it will not be long before the global superpowers of America, Russia and China have mastered hypersonic missiles. The immediacy of these weapons would render the false sanctuary of even a nuclear bunker as futile.
As the pace of capability increases and the implementation of Artificial Intelligence looms, the risks of accidental missile launches could become vastly more fatal. Despite the opposition by 4,500 AI experts, 61% polling of the public, the UN and 30 countries, the major superpowers will be unwilling to relinquish the hypersonic missiles over fears of military threat. Einstein famously stated, “Mankind invented the atomic bomb, but no mouse would ever construct a mousetrap”. The same is true with the invention of the hypersonic weapons and there is even less hope for humanity as they are more likely to be used.
Despite the indefensible power of hypersonic weapons, the implications of nuclear weapon usage could still be damaging for every nation across the globe. Studies by the University of Colorado found that the smoke of even a small nuclear war would engulf the world in around 2 weeks. This would result in crop failures, economic devastation and likely human extinction. The power of future and current nuclear weapons, while conclusively damning if used, may therefore dissuade any nation from usage as the devastation of a single blast could cause human extinction. As a result, it is also plausible that hypersonic weapons are merely another fear-mongering invention. As long as there are consequences for all parties, they will not be used due to the self-preserving nature of world leaders.
In conclusion, the pact of MAD is set to be strained as nuclear weapon usage may only be upon the horizon with modern autonomous technology. Despite this, the consequences of a nuclear weapon blast are universally damning and therefore their usage may still be deterred. Crucially, the major superpowers must cease their overzealous production of yet more nuclear weapons that are already so abundant. This is draining federal spending due to the fragile maintenance of nuclear warheads. It is also extremely unnecessary as long as the nuclear arsenal already guarantees worldwide destruction.