Is the world immersed in an arms race?

North Korea confirms it launched a missile 0:49

(CNN Spanish) -

Russia fired a missile against space last week.

The target?

An old Russian satellite, in what has been the latest anti-satellite weapons test.

But far from being an anomaly, it was just one more test than those that the main powers have been carrying out in recent months, in the framework of large announcements on nuclear matters and an escalation of cyberattacks, such as the one that occurred in May against States. United.

• US Says "Will Not Tolerate" Russia's "Reckless and Dangerous" Anti-Satellite Missile Test

Is the world, then, immersed in an arms race at all levels?

Russia's President Vladimir Putin himself said in early November that his country would deploy hypersonic missiles in 2022, shortly after China tested its own hypersonic missile this year.

The United States tested its own hypersonic missile in October, although it was apparently unsuccessful.

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First Russian missile launch from a submarine 0:48

Here are some key points about this alarming situation:

Missiles and more missiles for an arms race in the world

According to the US Space Command, in November Russia tested a DA-ASAT anti-satellite missile that struck a satellite and created more than 1,500 pieces of traceable orbital debris.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said it was "such irresponsible behavior on the part of a nation state" as the test "will significantly increase the risk to astronauts and cosmonauts on the Space Station."

Only four countries have successfully tested these weapons: the United States, Russia, China and India, which tested theirs in 2019.

But all attention now seems to be turning to the development of hypersonic missiles, which China has recently tested and which Russia hopes to deploy its Tsirkon missile next year.

These weapons travel at about 6,200 kilometers per hour in the upper atmosphere, slightly slower than an ICBM, and the shape of its warhead allows it to maneuver towards a target or away from defenses, making it very difficult for them to be demolished.

China builds new advanced technology aircraft carrier 4:46

North Korea also claims to have successfully tested a hypersonic missile, joining the select group of countries that dominate this cutting-edge technology.

However, some believe that his test may have been a failure.

Controls on the number of nuclear weapons relaxed

In March, the United Kingdom surprised the international community with an announcement: after stating that Russia was the main threat to its security, the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that it will increase the arsenal of nuclear weapons to reach 260 warheads, from the 225 that he has now, and well above the limit of 180 that he had imposed on himself.

The decision reverses a trend among the main nuclear weapon countries, between the United States and Russia, to reduce their atomic arsenals to the strategic minimum possible since the end of the Cold War.

In the case of the United Kingdom, much progress had been made in reducing arsenals since the peak of 500 warheads in times of the Cold War, and this is the first announcement of an increase since then, according to the disarmament NGO Nuclear Threat Initiative. .

But the UK is not alone.

At the beginning of November, the United States Department of Defense warned about the growth of China's nuclear arsenal, which could reach 1,000 warheads by the end of this decade.

There have also been reports of the construction of new missile silo bases in its western deserts.

US and Russia expand their nuclear weapons treaty 1:16

China currently has about 290 warheads, so the increase estimated by the Pentagon by the end of the 2020s would bring its arsenal closer to that of the United States and Russia, which has 1,750 and 1,570 warheads respectively, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a Swedish-based disarmament organization.

Although in the case of these two countries, it is only warheads deployed and ready to use.

If you count warheads in storage, many of them in the process of being dismantled, the arsenals amount to 5,800 and 6,375, respectively.

The United States and Russia have not yet shown signs of seeking to increase their nuclear arsenals, but during the government of Donald Trump the main treaty between the two powers - the New START, signed in 2010 - was on the verge of collapse after the White House. criticize.

In February, after the inauguration of Joe Biden, the United States and Russia finally extended the New START, which, among other issues, establishes limits on the number of warheads deployed (1,550, along with 700 launch means) and mechanisms to verify it.

It will continue, in principle, until February 2026.

Many were relieved, but New START is the last arms control treaty to exist between the United States and Russia, after Trump ordered the withdrawal of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 2019, and the then President George Bush did the same with the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in 2001.

North Korea Expanding Its Nuclear Weapons Stocks?

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Aukus, or the nuclear submarine for Australia

In September, the governments of the United States, United Kingdom and Australia announced the launch of Aukus (contraction of the English names of member countries), "a new reinforced trilateral security partnership," according to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. , which has the main objective to counteract the influence of China in the Pacific.

"The United States, Australia and the United Kingdom have long been loyal and capable partners and today we are even closer," said US President Joe Biden.

But the most important detail of the new Aukus is the purchase of nuclear-powered submarines by Australia, which will become the seventh country to operate these ships after the United States, China, the United Kingdom, France, India and Russia.

Of that select group, Australia will be the only country to handle this technology without nuclear weapons, posing a threat to nuclear non-proliferation efforts.

"This allows Australia to play at a much higher level and increase American capabilities," said a senior Biden government official.

"This technology is extremely sensitive. It is, frankly, an exception to our policy in many respects," he added.

Nuclear weapons missiles