Marco Zanoni: Chair of Disarmament committee – MilanMUN 2017
“Considering the threat of the
new arms race on the
international scene.”
Introduction
Since the conceptual idea of conflict arose in human society several millennia ago, there has
been a constant battle for military superiority. Up until the occurrences of the Cold War, Europe and
Asia have been the military of centres in the world; however, this has changed since the end of the
second World War (1939-45). Throughout the Eurasian region, nations are developing their military
power, in certain cases even developing Weapons of Mass destruction (WMDs), such as, but not
limited to, France, Britain, Israel, Russia, and China. Furthermore, nations outside the
aforementioned region have developed WMDs (such as the United States of America), and likewise
develop weapons and their respective militias.
Nevertheless, there are multiple aspects to weapon production and development beyond
the initial military threat imposed upon member states by such weapons. Scientific development,
work opportunities, national economic gain, and questions of national security all factor into the final
judgment regarding whether weapon production is beneficial or counterintuitive to a nation.
The official Cambridge Dictionary defines an arms race as the following: The situation in
which two or more countries try to have more and stronger weapons than the other.
In recent history, the key example of an arms race is the arms race between the United
States of America and the Soviet Union (as named at the time). Both nations developed nuclear
arsenals, rivaled each other in aerial technology, developed their armed forces dramatically.
Consequentially, tensions arose between the two countries, not only military, but also political and
cultural (furthering the divide between the two forces). Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that
arms races occur, on great extents, when nations seek to prove military dominance over others, and
end up in a stand-still situation of constant development, until the dispute is solved in one manner or
another (in certain cases war; however, resolutions/treaties have occurred as well).
Background and Main Issues
Weapons of Mass Destruction
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (the FBI), an intelligence driven threat-focused national
federal agency from the United States of America, defines a WMD as follows (as described in: Title 18
U.S.C. (United States Constitution) §2332a):




Any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas, including the following: a bomb; grenade; rocket
having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than four ounces; missile having an
explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce; mine; or device similar to
any of the previously described devices;
Any weapons that is designed or intend to cause death or serious bodily injury through the
release, dissemination, or impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors, on a
mass scale;
Any weapon involving a disease organism; and
Any weapon that is designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to
human life.
The latter of which has occurred only once throughout warfare, to date, with the intention of
mass-homicide: The nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, on the 6th and 9th of August,
1945, respectively. Nevertheless, thousands of war-heads with nuclear payloads have been built, and
tested, since the initiation of the Manhattan project in August of 1942. To date, approximately 15,375
nuclear weapons exist throughout the world, with 8,405 of said weapons belonging to European and
Asian states, (the only nation outside of this region with nuclear weapons is the United States of
American, which possesses approximately 6,970).
The distribution of nuclear weapons, the
potency of said weapons, and the status of said
weapons are all factors contributing to the nuclear
effectivity of a nuclear Nation. For example, the
Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea (DPRKorea) has approximately 15-22 nuclear warheads;
however, they are all stationed within the country, are
relatively weak (relative to the Satan 2/RS-28 Sarmat or
Tsar Bomba which Russia possesses), and have limited
range (making nations such as Brazil un-affected in any
primary strike, from missile capacity alone).
 Fig 1.1: Graph demonstrating approximate
nuclear arsenal across nation, with
disagreement on the Israeli arsenal to
other reports.
 Figure 1.2: Data Table regarding Countries possessing nuclear weapons and potency
Country
Number of Weapons
Most powerful, and
potency
Tsar Bomba - 57
Megatons
Regions in which located
Russian Federation
7,300
United States of America
6,970
B53 – 9 megatons
France
±300
TN 81 – 300 kilotons
United Kingdom
±210 (120 definitely
operational)
Trident missile based
warheads - ± 120 kilotons
China
± 240
Unspecified - 4 megatons
India
± 110
Unspecified – 60 kilotons
Israel
DPRKorea
Pakistan
± 80
± 15-22
130
Unknown
Unspecified – 30 kilotons
Unspecified – 40 kilotons
NATO nations (such as
Italy), US territory, US
submarines
French territory
(submarine deployed
maint)
Trident programme
submarines, British
submarines
Chinese territory,
Submarines
Indian territory,
submarines
Unknown
Unknown
Pakistani territory
Territory of the Russian
Federation (note that
certain weapons were
within Ukrainian
territory; however, have
since been placed under
Russian control), and/or
submarines.
Weapon production
 Fig 1.3: An extract from The Guardian, showing the approximate top 20 arms producers
worldwide, with sales being represented in million $.
Rank,
2010
Rank,
2009
1
2
3
4
5
6
S
1
2
3
4
5
6
S
7
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
8
9
10
11
12
27
13
15
16
17
18
19
20
14
16
19
18
17
22
Company
Lockheed Martin
BAE Systems
Boeing
Northrop Grumman
General Dynamics
Raytheon
BAE Systems Inc.
(BAE Systems, UK)
EADS
Finmeccanica
L-3 Communications
United Technologies
Thales
SAIC
Oshkosh Truck
Computer Sciences
Corp.
Honeywell
Safran
Rolls-Royce
General Electric
ITT Corp.
Almaz-Antei[d]
Country
Arms
sales,
2010
Arms
sales,
2009
USA
UK
USA
USA
USA
USA
USA
35,730
32,880
31,360
28,150
23,940
22,980
17,900
33,430
32,540
32,300
27,000
23,380
23,080
19,280
Arms sales
as % of
total sales,
2010
78
95
49
81
74
91
100
TransEuropean
Italy
USA
USA
France
USA
USA
USA
16,360
15,930
27
14,410
13,070
11,410
9,950
8,230
7,080
5,940
13,280
13,010
11,110
10,200
8,030
2,770
6,050
58
83
21
57
74
72
37
USA
France
UK
USA
USA
Russia
5,400
4,800
4,330
4,300
4,000
3,950
5,380
4,740
4,260
4,700
4,730
3,260
16
34
26
3
36
89
Note that only 35% of the companies listed are within the Eurasian region, and that the only
Asian state with one of said companies is the Russian Federation, therefore, making the remaining
65% US-based organizations. Furthermore, if analyzing sales in 2010, the total arms sales sum up to
306,170, whilst the sum of said arms produced in the Euro-Asian region is 86,680 (28.31%). With the
remainder being categorized as originating from the United States of America. Notwithstanding,
organizations such as Lockheed Martin only derived 78% of their total sales from the arms trade, and
other companies gained even less (such as General Electric, which only derived 3% of their total sales
from arms). Therefore, although figuratively large portions of the total category belong to US based
companies, certain aspects of any of the aforementioned companies’ sales are not directly involved
with arms production and sale.
Military and weapons development
Generally, member states which possess militias/armed forces develop such forces as a
means to support the governing force’s interests through, in certain cases, violent means. Generally,
such forces include: land based forces (generally classified as the regular army), naval forces, and air
forces. Furthermore, continuous development of said forces allows militias to possess more
advanced technology and tools (more advanced relative to states which have not developed such
military equipment to a similar extent).
In 2016 alone, the FBI processed 24,767,514 firearms sales within US territory, making it the
highest record of such sales in history, beating 2015’s sales by over 150,000. Assuming that the
average firearm’s economic value equals between 400-1000 $, solely within the United States, the
total sum of currency spent could be between 9,907,005,600 $ – 24,767,514,000 $ (if using data from
Dave Sparazniski at quora.com). It is true; however, that the United States is the world-leader in
firearms purchases and ownership.
Nevertheless, global arms sales tend to follow
similar trends, therefore making 2016’s weapons
sales record high. Fig. 1.3 demonstrates world
trends and sales of arms between 2004-2011, and
gives valuable insight on the current situation.
The Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute (SIPRI) has declared that in
recent times, following the economic recession
towards the latter 2010s, the major countries
accountable for weapon production are the
following: The United States of America (31% of
total world sales), The Russian Federation (27%),
The People’s Republic of China (5%), The Federal
Republic of Germany (5%), and the French
Republic (5%).
 Fig. 1.4: An extracted graph
from Richard F. Grimmett’s
research
Interestingly, whilst German arms production and
French arms exports decreased by 43% and 27%
respectively, Chinese exports have increased by over 143%
in the same time-frame. Primarily, the Chinese position as
third-largest arms exporter globally has occurred as a consequence of increased trades to LEDCs in
Africa and certain Asian states (Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar principally). Nevertheless,
although said increases, which occurred between 2010-2014, have dramatically changed China’s
position as an arms exporting nation, a dramatic gap between China and the Russian Federation
persists. Meanwhile the US and Russian Federation provide arms for other regions worldwide, and
continue their trend of being in first and second place respectively, in regard to arms sales.
Past resolutions, solutions, and/or pacts
Aug 5, 1963:
Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT); Prohibits Nuclear weapons tests in space, the
atmosphere, in water, or in any other space where radioactive debris can be
present outside a Nation’s jurisdiction.
Jan 29, 1967:
Outer Space Treaty: Prevents Nations from placing WBDs in space (orbit, or on
celestial bodies) in any manner.
Feb 14, 1967:
Latin America Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty: Prohibits Nuclear weapons
to be stored, produced, researched, or maintained in Latin American states.
Jul 1, 1968:
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty: International agreement with intent to
promote disarmament, nonproliferation, and cooperation regarding nuclear
weapons globally.
Apr 10, 1972:
Biological Weapons Conventions: First international pact to forbid the
production, development, storage, or maintenance of WMDs classifiable as
biological.
Jul 3 1974:
Threshold Test Ban Treaty (TTBT): Pact between the United States and, at the
time, the Soviet Union to limit nuclear weapons tests, prohibiting tests of
warheads with payloads exceeding 150 kilotons.
Dec 3 1997:
Mine Ban Treaty: International ban to produce, stockpile, use of, and transfer
of antipersonnel mines.
Apr 18, 2010:
New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty: Treaty between United States and
Russian Federation to further reduce and limit arms by Feb 5 2018
Dec 24, 2014:
The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT): Multinational treaty regulating conventional
firearm stockpiling, production, sales, etc…
Sources
https://www.armscontrol.org/treaties
https://www.fbi.gov/about
https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/wmd
http://www.icanw.org/the-facts/the-nuclear-age/
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-worlds-nukes-and-where-theyre-stored-2014-8?r=US&IR=T&IR=T
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapon_of_mass_destruction
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/peace/abolish-nuclear-weapons/the-vitalstatistics/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B61_nuclear_bomb
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_sharing
http://www.mirror.co.uk/tech/russia-test-unstoppable-satan-2-7935675
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_with_nuclear_weapons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapons_and_the_United_Kingdom
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/03/21/what-is-trident-britains-nuclear-deterrent-explained/
https://www.quora.com/How-much-would-it-cost-for-the-U-S-government-to-purchase-the-majorityof-the-guns-in-circulation-on-the-open-market-by-expanding-the-gun-buyback-programs
http://freebeacon.com/issues/guns-sold-2016-year-history/
http://cdn1.globalissues.org/i/military/12/arms-sales-2005-2011.png