Modern strategic conventional weapons as an alternative to nuclear weapons

Nuclear weapons are commonly regarded as the ultimate deterrent. The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) requires the nuclear weapon states – the US, Russia, the UK, France, and China – to eliminate their nuclear weapons. More recently, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) has declared nuclear weapons illegal. The nuclear-armed states – including India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea (that are not part of the NPT) – are reluctant to give up their nuclear weapons because they believe that nuclear weapons yield security and prestige. They are all modernising their nuclear arsenals, and the total number of nuclear weapons is going up again. The nuclear-armed states posit that there is no alternative to nuclear deterrence. This article argues that modern strategic conventional weapons (like hypersonic missiles) may in turn provide exactly that: an alternative to nuclear deterrence. Modern strategic conventional weapons, whilst destabilising in a world with nuclear weapons, may become the ultimate deterrent in a nuclear-weapons-free world.