The United States recently conducted a war game to test the readiness of its strategic deterrent force that featured B-52H bombers loading nuclear-capable cruise missiles.

Global Thunder 26 was the annual field exercise of the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) that aimed to verify the capability to deliver "rapid and reliable global strike" at any time and to demonstrate America's deterrence remains safe, secure, effective and credible, the military said in a press release.

Why It Matters

The U.S. is one of nine countries that possess nuclear weapons , with an estimated 3,700 warheads in its arsenal—the world's second-largest by number—ready for delivery by the nuclear triad of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, aircraft and submarines.

As its nuclear adversaries—R

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