Issues: Nuclear Weapons

Nuclear Bomber and Missile Bases

1. Barksdale Air Force Base, Bossier City, LA
   
   Barksdale AFB is home to the 8^th Air Force, which includes three heavy bomb wings.

• 210 B61-7 gravity bombs
• 130 B83 gravity bombs
• 500 W80-1 Air Launched Cruise Missiles
• 100 W80-1 Advanced Cruise Missiles¹

2. F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Cheyenne, WY
   
   The 90^th Space Wing is stationed at F.E. Warren AFB.  The base stretches over a 12,600 square mile area in Wyoming, Nebraska, and Colorado.

• 150 Minuteman III ICBMs
• 170 W62 Minuteman III warheads

3. Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, NM
   
   The Kirtland Underground Munitions Storage Complex at Kirtland AFB has the largest number of nuclear warheads deployed in a single location in the United States.

• 711 W80-1 Air Launched Cruise Missile warheads \
• 250 W62 Minuteman III warheads
• 553 W87 MX Peacekeeper warheads
• 383 W84 Ground Launched Cruise Missile warheads¹

4. Malmstrom Air Force Base, Great Falls, MT
   
   Malmstrom AFB is home to the 341^st Space Wing.  Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) and missile alert facilities are dispersed over the largest missile complex in the Western Hemisphere.

• 160 W62 Minuteman III warheads
• 375 W78 Minuteman III warheads
• 200 Minuteman III ICBMs¹

5. Minot Air Force Base, Minot, ND
   
   Minot AFB is home to the 5^th Bomb Wing and the 91^st Space Wing.

• 194 B61-7 gravity bombs
• 130 B83 gravity bombs
• 200 W80-1 Air Launched Cruise Missiles
• 300 W80-1 Advanced Cruise Missiles
• 330 W78 Minuteman III warheads
• 150 Minuteman III ICBMs¹

6. Nellis Air Force Base, Las Vegas, NV
   
   Nellis AFB is home to the largest air combat training mission in the world.  Nellis is one of two main Air Force nuclear weapons general depots in the U.S. (The other is Kirtland AFB in NM.)

• 306 B83 gravity bombs
• 600 B61-3, -4, and -10 gravity bombs

7. Offutt Air Force Base, Omaha, NE
   
   Offutt Air Force Base is home to the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM).  STRATCOM is the command and control center for strategic forces and controls military space operations, computer network operations, information operations, strategic warning and intelligence assessments as well as global strategic planning.  STRATCOM aims to "Establish and provide full-spectrum global strike."⁴

8. Whiteman Air Force Base, Knob Noster, MO
   
   Whiteman AFB is home to the B-2 Spirit "Stealth" Bomber. 

• 35 B61-7 gravity bombs
• 41 B61-11 gravity bombs
• 60 B83 gravity bombs¹

Nuclear Submarine Bases

9. Bangor Naval Submarine Base, Bangor, WA
   
   The U.S. Submarine Base at Bangor, WA serves the Navy as a homeport for the Trident Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile System.  The base is also home to Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific.  The nuclear warheads are unloaded at Indian Island at the mouth of the straits before reaching Bangor Naval Submarine Base.

• 850 W76 Trident I warheads
• 1100 W76 Trident II warheads
• 264 W88 Trident II warheads
• 150 W80-0 Sea Launched Cruise Missile warheads

10. Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, Kings Bay, GA
    
    The Naval Submarine Base at Kings Bay, GA is the East Coast homeport for the Ohio-class fleet ballistic missile submarine and the one naval base in the Atlantic fleet that supports the Trident II (D-5) missile.  The base is also home to Strategic Weapons Facility Atlantic, the production site for D-5 Trident ballistic missiles.

• 468 W76 Trident I warheads
• 140 W88 Trident II warheads
• 144 W80-0 Sea Launched Cruise Missile warheads
• 612 W76 Trident II warheads

Energy Department Facilities³

11. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA
    
    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is a large, multi-discipline scientific laboratory.  The laboratory's mission includes designing new nuclear weapons.

12. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM
    
    Los Alamos National Laboratory is a large, multi-discipline scientific laboratory.  The laboratory's mission includes designing new nuclear weapons.

13. Nevada Test Site, Mercury, NV
    
    Despite a nuclear test moratorium, which has been in place since 1992, the National Nuclear Security Administration still maintains the Nevada Test Site, where over 900 tests were conducted between 1951 and 1992.

14. Oak Ridge Reservation (Y-12 Area Office), Oak Ridge, TN
    
    The Y-12 National Security Complex was formerly known as the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant.  Programs at Y-12 include manufacturing and reworking nuclear weapon components, dismantling nuclear weapon components returned from the national arsenal, and serving as a storehouse of special nuclear materials.

15. Pantex Plant, Amarillo, TX
    
    Pantex Plant is the U.S. nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility.

16. Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM
    
    Sandia National Laboratory designs all non-nuclear components for the nation's nuclear weapons.

17. Savannah River Site, Aiken, SC
    
    The Savannah River Site unloads and processes tritium from weapon components and ships the material to other Energy Department sites.

U.S. Chemical Weapons Sites²

18. Aberdeen Proving Ground and Edgewood Arsenal, Aberdeen, MD

19. Anniston Army Depot, Anniston, AL

20. Newport Army Ammunition Plant, Newport, IN

21. Pine Bluff Arsenal, Pine Bluff, AR

22. Pueblo Army Depot, Pueblo, CO

23. Lexington Bluegrass Army Depot, Richmond, KY
    
    On June 13, 2003, the Army awarded a contract for the destruction of the 524 tons of chemical warfare agents and associated munitions stored at the Bluegrass Army Depot. 

24. Tooele Army Depot, Tooele, UT
    
    The South Area of the Tooele Army Depot has been realigned with the Chemical and Biological Defense Command and is now called the Deseret Chemical Depot (DCD).  The primary mission of the DCD is storage of a large percentage of the United States stockpile of chemical munitions (more than 40 percent of the nation's chemical weapons).

25. Umatilla Army Depot, Umatilla, OR

*** There are no current sites in the U.S. with biological weapons.

Reviewed: 8/19/05

Sources

1. Schwartz, Stephen. “Bombs in the Backyard: Bases and Facilities with Significant Current or Historical U.S. Nuclear Weapons or Naval Nuclear Propulsion Missions.” Compiled by Brookings Institution, August 2002.
2. “Locations of U.S. Chemical Weapons Stockpile Sites.” Chemical Weapons Working Group.
3. National Nuclear Security Administration.
4. U.S. Strategic Command.

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