India and Pakistan Are Close to War — Is Pakistan a Nuclear Power?

The nuclear arms race has always been a touchy subject. That's because many people worry about the potential fallout that could occur when two nuclear powers get into a fight that is big enough for them to quite literally pull out the big guns. But, when it comes to some countries, it's a little less clear where they stand in the race to gather up enough nukes to stay relevant in a changing political climate.

Take the country of Pakistan, for example. Is Pakistan a nuclear power? You can find out that answer, and who the country considers its biggest enemies and allies, by reading below.

Pakistan was officially declared a nuclear weapons state after its first round of nuclear tests were completed in 1998. According to Al Jazeera, the country's nuclear arms mainly consist of ballistic missiles, with both short- and medium-range capabilities as of 2025. Pakistan has an estimated 170-plus rockets with nuclear warheads, which range from the HATF 8 to the ABADEEL.

The country also boasts some impressive military aircrafts with nuclear warhead capabilities, including an F16 A/B with a range of nearly 1,000 miles, a Mirage III/V with a range of 1,300 miles, and a JF-17 Thunder with a range of 745 miles.

While most of its weapons come from China, which has been the case since approximately 1990, the country also has other allies providing it with access to nuclear devices, including Russia, Turkey, the Netherlands, and others.

That being said, China remains the biggest supplier, and gives the country an estimated 81%. According to Al Jazeera, Pakistan is the fifth-largest importer of these types of weapons in the world as of 2025.

India and Pakistan have long been enemies, as the two countries have battled relentlessly over Kashmir, which both countries lay claim to. But, the animosity runs deeper than just a geographical issue, with both countries appearing to have a deep distrust and distain for the other's policies, politics, and people.

According to The Atlantic, India's secularism and democracy rub Pakistan's the wrong way, as the country rules with a military dictatorship and a focus on religion.

And while religion is a key sticking point for both countries, anger and distrust have boiled over into physical conflicts over the years, including in 1947 when a railway carrying Indian refugees was attacked. An estimated 3,000 people were killed that day, according to Wikipedia.

The violence didn't stop there. Throughout the rest of the year many more Indians were attacked and killed in ongoing conflicts.

In modern times, the countries are still battling, with India and Pakistan trading missiles and drone strikes at the start of 2025. The rising tensions are all thanks to an April 22, 2025 attack, where Indian officials accused Pakistan of sending gunmen to murder 26 people in Kashmir.

The attack was the worst one between the two countries since 2002, and eyewitnesses claimed that the shooters seemed to target Hindu men.

With both countries having access to nuclear weapons, tensions remain high as officials and citizens alike worry about the potential for the decades long feuding to escalate into an all out war.