President Trump has announced that the US will start testing nuclear weapons.

It was not immediately clear whether Trump was referring to a nuclear weapons test, or a test of a nuclear-capable weapons system. Not since the 1990s has one of the world’s three major military powers conducted a nuclear weapons test, with China having conducted its last known test in 1996.

The US last conducted a nuclear test in 1992, when it began a voluntary moratorium on such explosive testing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week said that the country had tested a new nuclear-capable Burevestnik cruise missile and a nuclear-powered torpedo, known as the Poseidon, which the Russian leader boasted was without rival, according to Russian state media. That was testing a "weapon system", not the warhead itself.

The two are pretty interesting projects. The cruise missile can travel for an extended period of time and distance using its nuclear reactor-based engine. This would theoretically allow it to evade systems such as the planned Golden Dome by approaching the US from the south, for example. The torpedo, using its nuclear reactor-based engine, can lie dormant on the ocean bottom, and when activated, has the range to strike anywhere in the world (think of it as a stealthy under-water kamikaze drone with unlimited range).

I have not heard of any other country even close to creating either of these two solutions (assuming they actually work as designed).\

Jeff