Nuclear weapons in Pelinai (Pacifica)

Pelinai
Nuclear program start date	March 1, 1968 (1968-03-01)
First nuclear weapon test	October 4, 2000 (2000-10-04)
First thermonuclear weapon test	February 8, 2002 (2002-02-08)
Last weapon test	May 27, 2010 (2010-05-27)
Largest yield test	3.2 MtTNT (2008)
Total number of tests	38
Peak stockpile number	>12000 (2020)
Current total stockpile	>12000 (2020)
Current stockpile yield in megatonnesTNT	1,800~2,300 Mt (2020 est.)
Current active arsenal	2,000~3,000 (2020 est.)
Total active yield in megatonnesTNT	800~900 Mt (2020 est.)
Maximum missile range	ICBM: ~12,000 km SLBM: ~12,000 km

The Kingdom of Pelinai is a recently emerged nuclear power and one of the most recent states to successfully construct and deploy a currently functional nuclear arsenal. It is known to possess a wide variety of tactical- and strategic-yield nuclear warheads in large quantities, as well as a complete nuclear triad delivery system complex capable of ensuring second strike capability. Pelinai has never used nuclear weapons of any type in a military conflict, but does not adhere to a no first use policy and explicitly reserves the right to utilize nuclear armaments and other weapons of mass destruction in cases of conventional military aggression against its territory or the first enemy usage of WMDs against its own forces.

The Pelinese state is believed to possess approximately 12,000 to 13,000 operable nuclear weapons, the majority of which are tactical-size warheads of 20Kt yield or lower. An estimated 2,000~3,000 warheads of the Pelinese arsenal, primarily the strategic yield component, are in active service in various land- and submarine-launched ballistic missiles and in forward deployment magazines at airbases; the remainder are kept in reserve in order to provide a credible ability to wage protracted nuclear warfare.

The Pelinese nuclear weapons program was initiated in 1968 as one of the primary components of Project Apricot, a large-scale, dual-purpose development program to pursue a comprehensive, fully domestic nuclear complex encompassing a complete pipeline of uranium mines, uranium enrichment facilities, commercial reactors, nuclear fuel reprocessing sites, high-level waste long-term storage sites, and a nuclear weapons arsenal. Initial developmental work on the weapons section began at Nuclear Complex G68, the program’s first assigned research facility, the same year; subsequent research, design, and construction of support facilities to source plutonium and other critical materials proceeded slowly under both the Pelinese and Belogoran administrations throughout the second half of the twentieth century, with severe setbacks from facility damage caused by the Pelinese Civil War, until the final construction of a theoretically functional warhead in April 1999. The scheduled test detonation of the device was delayed for over one year by the ongoing construction of the underground nuclear testing facility at Meiaka, Yukisora, whose completion in August 2000 allowed for the eventual successful detonation of the device. The Pelinese nuclear program’s scope and funding both grew significantly throughout the 2000s and 2010s following the program’s technical success, facilitated by rising economic prosperity and accompanying increases in government access to resources: this resulted in a growing number of warhead types in production and a large increase in the program’s capacity for scaled production of warhead pits. The modern Pelinese nuclear armaments design and production system is now presently one of the most developed and technically advanced in the world, with extensive expertise in warhead manufacturing and access to a large supply of fissile and other critical weapon materials.

Current status

Delivery systems

The Pelinese Armed Forces possess a wide selection of delivery systems for nuclear weapons in order to provide deployment flexibility and ensure the resilience of a devastating nuclear second-strike capability. In addition to the traditional nuclear triad of heavy bombers, silo-based ballistic missiles, and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, Pelinai possesses extensive nuclear artillery in the form of nuclear shells and tactical ballistic missile systems, nuclear-capable cruise missiles compatible with deployment on naval surface combatants, and nuclear torpedos.

All major Pelinese tactical aircraft, including the Ae-15 Ayame and Hono Ayame, the Ae-16 Fuyuhana, the Na-17 Marahu, and the To-13 Botan, are certified to deploy at least one form of aircraft-borne nuclear weapon system. Airborne nuclear weapon form factors used by the Royal Pelinese Air Force and Royal Pelinese Navy include gravity bombs, air-to-surface missiles, and air-launched cruise missiles: most missiles and bombs carried by multirole fighters and strike aircraft are estimated to possess a variable yield of up to 200~300Kt, while the Na-17 Marahu and other heavy strike aircraft are capable of carrying larger megatonne-yield unguided bombs.

Weapons production

The Kingdom of Pelinai is actively pursuing the production of nuclear warheads, as well as the technical improvement of its designs in areas such as device reliability, reductions in warhead mass, volume, and fissile material consumption per unit of weapon yield, and reductions in costs of production and maintenance.

Seven different laboratories and reactors in Pelinai are known to be closely associated with the production of weapons-grade fissile material and/or its forming into pits for nuclear weapons. All plutonium and other fissile pit material consumed by the Pelinese nuclear weapons program is produced by dedicated reactors configured to efficiently produce weapons-grade nuclear material with a low incidence of Pu-240 and other undesirable isotopes which may compromise weapon reliability or performance.

Research and development

Research and development, weapon design, and other similar tasks undertaken under the umbrella of the Pelinese nuclear weapons program are performed at several sites distributed throughout Pelinai: the most notable among these are Anatoliy Ogoniko Nuclear Laboratory, Namidahi State Nuclear Laboratory, Nuclear Complex G68, and Seiko State Nuclear Laboratory, while Site Yulia also conducts some research related to nuclear material production methods.

Major weapons program sites

Below is a list of major sites involved in the production pipeline of Pelinese nuclear warheads. It includes facilities devoted to basic research, warhead design, warhead non-nuclear component production, nuclear material production, storage of fissile material, warhead pits, and/or technical parts, and final assembly, but does not include sites used for the storage of completed warheads or the production of intermediate materials (e.g. facilities conducting COLEX extraction of lithium-6 as a precursor material for tritium production).

Name	Location	Function	Status
Anatoliy Ogoniko Nuclear Laboratory	Yukisora	Research; warhead design	Active
Geran Mountain Storage Facility	Sevaria	Nuclear waste storage	Active
Kamenpol Machine Building Plant	Stelossia	Warhead technical components production	Active
Meiaka Weapons Testing Facility	Yukisora	Underground nuclear weapons testing	Inactive; maintained for possible reactivation
Namidahi State Nuclear Laboratory	Loshkaria	Research; warhead pit forming	Active
Nuclear Complex G68	Loshkaria	Research	Active
Nuclear Complex G71	Stelossia	Warhead pit storage; fissile material storage	Active
Seiko State Nuclear Laboratory	Samara	Research; warhead design; warhead pit forming	Active
Shichihata Armaments Building Plant	Stelossia	Warhead assembly	Active
Site Bina	Sevaria	Fuel material production (uranium-235, uranium-238)	Active
Site Georgia	Loshkaria	Fuel material production (tritium)	Active
Site Hana	Sevaria	Fissile material production (plutonium); warhead pit forming	Active
Site Katarina	Loshkaria	Fissile material production (plutonium)	Active
Site Mari	Stelossia	Fissile material production (uranium-235, plutonium)	Active
Site Yulia	Stelossia	Research; fuel material production (tritium)	Active
Site Yuri	Yukisora	Fissile material production (plutonium)	Active
Yurikawa Plant	Stelossia	Warhead assembly	Active

International relations

The Kingdom of Pelinai is not a signatory of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and has resisted calls from states and non-governmental organizations to commit to disarming its nuclear arsenal at any point.

See also

• List of states with nuclear weapons