Total megaton yield of China's nuclear arsenal compared to P5

I don't see the value of counting the total of nuclear warheads each nation possess since the actual yield of nuclear materials and it's TNT equivalent may differ from ICBM warheads to tactical theater warheads.

For example, I think China's nuclear warhead number is greatly underestimated, and her actual cumulative megaton yield of all her nuclear arsenal combined should be put her in the upper top 3 tier of nuclear powers as opposed to being outclassed by UK and France in terms of numerical warheads is concerned. I think it's extremely rare for China to not beat UK/France in terms of numerical superiority of warheads, so I hope the total megaton yield will favor China over UK/France.

Does anyone happen to know the total megaton yield of China's bombs, then stratified by the total megaton yield capable of reaching the US? Also a list of other nation's total megaton yield (preferrably P5 nations)

Phead128 said:

Does anyone happen to know the total megaton yield of China's bombs, then stratified by the total megaton yield capable of reaching the US? Also a list of other nation's total megaton yield (preferrably P5 nations)

Click to expand...

China has 20 or so liquid-fueled DF-5 ICBM's with a 3-5MT warheads, but that changes when solid-fueled ICBM's like the DF-31A take it's place. New generation missiles carry more accurate but lower yield "second generation" warheads like the 500-700kt for DF-31 and 200-300kt for DF-31A. China's megaton yield warheads are being retired (like other countries have done already) and those are being replaced with new 200-700kt weapons.


Russia: 100-500kt for their new missiles.

Britain: 100kt W76 variant.

France: 100-120kt TN-75

USA: 100kt W76, 475kt W88 and 300-475kt W87. There is still some megaton "dump bombs" but those are being dismantled and retired.

btw; W76 is most common warhead in US inventory.

Actually delivery multiple small nuclear warhead per target will give you better result than a single large nuclear warhead due to inverse square law. Which is why the trend went from multi-mega ton large nuke to multiple small kilo-ton nukes.