India Expands Nuclear Arsenal To 190, Deployed 12 Warheads In 2026 - How It Compares With Pakistan SIPRI Report

(MENAFN- Live Mint) India is believed to have once again slightly expanded its nuclear arsenal in 2025, leading over Pakistan, North Korea and Israel, as per the data revealed in the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Yearbook 2026.

SIPRI launched its annual assessment of the state of armaments, disarmament and international security on Monday, June 8.

The key findings of SIPRI Yearbook 2026 showed that the nine nuclear-armed states - the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and Israel-“continued programmes to modernize and enhance their nuclear arsenals in 2025...”

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According to the report, India has a total inventory of 190 warheads as of January 2026, while Pakistan's inventory stands at 170. India also deployed 12 nuclear warheads as of January 2026, the report claimed.

The report stated, "India is believed to have once again slightly expanded its nuclear arsenal in 2025 and continued development of new types of nuclear delivery systems."

“The modernization programme is increasingly focused on developing long-range weapons capable of reaching targets throughout China, although planning also continues to be focused on India's long-standing rivalry with Pakistan,” the report added.

In Pakistan, the SIPRI report observed that the country continued to develop new delivery systems and accumulate fissile material (like Uranium-235 or Plutonium-239) in 2025.

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This suggested that Pakistan's“nuclear arsenal might expand over the coming decade.”

The report also made a brief mention of the conflict between India and Pakistan in May 2025. It said,“...world events-not least the outbreak of conflict between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan-are challenging nuclear deterrence logic."

Notably, India launched Operation Sindoor, a military exercise to destroy terror infrastructure in Pakistan in May 2025, in response to the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 26 lives in April.

World's nuclear arsenals expanded and upgraded

As of January 2026, the nine nuclear powers collectively have 12,187 warheads. Of the total global inventory, as many as 9,745 were in military stockpiles for potential use.

An estimated 4,012 of those warheads were deployed with missiles and aircraft and the rest were in central storage, SIPRI report added. Between 2100 and 2200 of the deployed warheads were kept in a state of high operational alert on ballistic missiles, it claimed.

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“Nearly all of these warheads belonged to Russia or the USA, and to a lesser extent France and the UK, but China and India may now occasionally deploy a small number of warheads mounted on missiles during peacetime,” stated a press released issued by SIPRI on Monday.

'Russia, US combined share is shrinking'

The report suggested that Russia and the USA together possess around 83 per cent of all stockpiled nuclear warheads (usable warheads).

However,“This combined share is shrinking somewhat due to the growth in the world's other nuclear arsenals,” SIPRI said.

The sizes of the Russian and US military stockpiles appear to have stayed relatively stable in 2025 but both states' extensive modernization programmes seem likely to increase the size and diversity of their arsenals in the future, it added.

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