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South Africa’s nuclear weapons doctrine was designed for political leverage rather than actual battlefield use, specifically to induce the United States of America to intervene in any regional conflicts between South Africa and the Soviet Union or its proxies.
Alleged spare bomb casings from South Africa's nuclear weapon programme. Their purpose is disputed. [131] South Africa produced six nuclear weapons in the 1980s, but dismantled them in the early 1990s. In 1979, there was a detection of a putative covert nuclear test in the Indian Ocean, called the Vela incident. It has long been speculated that ...
As a member of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, South Africa uses nuclear science for peaceful means. South Africa's nuclear programme includes both nuclear energy and nuclear medicine. In the past there was also a military component, and South Africa previously possessed nuclear weapons, which were subsequently dismantled.
The African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Pelindaba (named after South Africa's main nuclear research facility, run by the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (NECSA) and was the location where South Africa's atomic bombs of the 1970s were developed, constructed and subsequently stored), [1] establishes a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Africa.
In 1993, then President F. W. de Klerk admitted that South Africa had indeed possessed six assembled nuclear weapons, with a seventh in production, but that they had been dismantled (before the first all-race elections of April 1994). There was no mention specifically of the Vela incident or of Israeli cooperation in South Africa's nuclear program.
The 18 month timetable was completed in July 1991 and South Africa joined the NPT on 10 July 1991. [10] They then joined the IAEA in September and on 10 October 1991 disclosed its nuclear materials, facilities and program. [10] On 24 March 1993, President FW de Klerk announced to the world the end of the South African nuclear weapons program ...
From the 1960s to the 1990s, South Africa pursued research into weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, [32] biological, and chemical weapons under the Apartheid regime. Six nuclear weapons were assembled.
CNS Resources on South Africa's Nuclear Weapons Program at the Library of Congress Web Archives (archived 2001-09-27) – indicates that "most international experts conclude that South Africa has completed its nuclear disarmament. South Africa is the first and to date only country to build nuclear weapons and then entirely dismantle its nuclear ...