NSNW

Non-Strategic Nuclear Weapons (NSNW), often called tactical or sub-strategic nuclear weapons, are nuclear munitions designed for use at shorter ranges and typically with lower yields than the strategic warheads mounted on intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), or heavy bombers. Delivery systems can include dual-capable aircraft, short- and medium-range missiles, artillery shells, depth charges, and, historically, nuclear landmines and torpedoes.

There is no universally agreed legal definition of NSNW. Arms-control treaties such as New START (2010) cover only deployed strategic warheads and their delivery vehicles, leaving NSNW outside the formal numerical limits. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty of 1987 eliminated U.S. and Soviet ground-launched missiles between 500 and 5,500 km, but the United States withdrew from the treaty in 2019, citing Russian non-compliance.

Estimates of arsenals are imprecise because warhead totals are not publicly verified. Open-source analysts at the Federation of American Scientists and SIPRI generally assess that Russia retains the largest declared NSNW stockpile, while the United States deploys a smaller number of B61 gravity bombs at NATO bases in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Türkiye under NATO nuclear sharing arrangements. China, Pakistan, India, and the DPRK are also assessed to field or develop shorter-range nuclear systems, though categorisations differ.

NSNW have returned to prominence in policy debate because of:

• Russian doctrinal references to "escalate-to-de-escalate" and the 2023 announcement of deployments in Belarus.
• NATO's modernisation of the B61-12 gravity bomb and integration with the F-35A.
• Concerns about lowered nuclear thresholds in regional conflicts.

Critics argue NSNW blur the firebreak between conventional and nuclear war; proponents contend they bolster extended deterrence and reassure allies.