Nuclear Weapons and Israel - Stockpile

Stockpile

The State of Israel has never made public any details of its nuclear capability or arsenal. The following is a history of estimates by many different sources on the size and strength of Israel's nuclear arsenal. Estimates may vary due to the amount of material Israel has on store versus assembled weapons, and estimates as to how much material the weapons actually use, as well as the overall time in which the reactor was operated.

• 1967 (Six Day War)– 2 bombs; 13 bombs
• 1969– 5–6 bombs of 19 kilotons yield each
• 1973 (Yom Kippur War)– 13 bombs; 20 nuclear missiles plus developed a suitcase bomb
• 1974– 3 capable artillery battalions each with 12 175 mm tubes and a total of 108 warheads; 10 bombs
• 1976– 10–20 nuclear weapons
• 1980– 100–200 bombs
• 1984– 12–31 atomic bombs; 31 plutonium bombs and 10 uranium bombs
• 1985– at least 100 nuclear bombs
• 1986– 100 to 200 fission bombs and a number of fusion bombs
• 1991– 50–60 to 200–300
• 1992– more than 200 bombs
• 1994– 64–112 bombs (5 kg/warhead); 50 nuclear tipped Jericho missiles, 200 total
• 1995– 66–116 bombs (at 5 kg/warhead); 70–80 bombs; "A complete Repertoire" (neutron bombs, nuclear mines, suitcase bombs, submarine-borne)
• 1996– 60–80 plutonium weapons, maybe more than 100 assembled, ER variants, varitable yields
• 1997– More than 400 deliverable thermonuclear and nuclear weapons
• 2002– Between 75 and 200 weapons
• 2004– 82
• 2006– Federation of American Scientists believes that Israel "could have produced enough plutonium for at least 100 nuclear weapons, but probably not significantly more than 200 weapons".
• 2008– 150 or more nuclear weapons.
• 2008– 80 intact warheads, of which 50 are re-entry vehicles for delivery by ballistic missiles and the rest bombs for delivery by aircraft. Total military plutonium stockpile 340–560 kg.
• 2009– Estimates of weapon numbers differ sharply with plausible estimates varying from 60 to 400.
• 2010– According to Jane's Defense Weekly Israel has between 100 and 300 nuclear warheads, most of them are probably being kept in unassembled mode but can become fully functional "in a matter of days".
• 2010– "More than 100 weapons, mainly two-stage thermonuclear devices, capable of being delivered by missile, fighter-bomber, or submarine"