Development of China’s Nuclear Warhead Miniaturization and Its Strategic Implications

The specifics of China’s modern nuclear warheads are very important to understand well China’s on-going nuclear modernization and the significant buildup of its nuclear arsenal. China has maintained secrecy about such kind of information. Based on a variety of new Chinese-language sources, this work offers a comprehensive account of China’s modern nuclear warheads development, including the details of its pursuit of warhead miniaturization. The new findings suggest that China has the ability to produce smaller, lighter warheads than has been commonly understood, and that China has more options for missiles that could carry more multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs) than previously believed.