ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the nuclear doctrines and vertical nuclear proliferation trends of the NWS recognised by the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The United States is the foremost nuclear power having the second largest nuclear weapons stockpile after Russia. Currently, the US strategic triad consists of strategic bombers equipped with gravity bombs and Air-Launched Cruise Missiles (ALCMs), nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) carrying Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs) and land-based Inter-continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs). The Soviet nuclear doctrine during the Cold War evolved with the changing dynamics of the US-Soviet relationship and furtherance of arms control agreements. A leading Sovietologist argues that for the first quarter-century of the nuclear age, “the fundamental assumption of the Soviet military doctrine was that, if a global war was unleashed by the ‘imperialist West’, the Soviet Union could defeat the enemy and achieve victory, despite the enormous ensuing damage”.
