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Israel has close to 100 nuclear weapons, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in its new report. The SIPRI noted that Israel has a long-standing policy of not commenting on its nuclear arsenal.
According to the SIPRI report, there are approximately 30 that are gravity bombs, which can be delivered by fighter jets – some of which are believed to be equipped for nuclear weapon delivery – and approximately 50 warheads that can be delivered by land-based ballistic missiles such as the Jericho III intermediate-range ballistic missile – which reportedly has a range of 5,500 km.
The SIPRI mentioned reports that Israel has modified its fleet of German-built Dolphin class submarines to carry nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise missiles, giving it a sea-based second-strike capability.
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The report says that at the start of 2019 there were approximately 13,865 nuclear weapons in the hands of the US, Russia, the UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea. 3,750 of them were deployed with operational forces and another estimated 2,000 kept in a state of high operational alert.
