South Africa´s nuclear weapons programme

In the 1970s and 1980s, South Africa had a secret nuclear weapons programme and built up a small arsenal of six simple, gun-type nuclear bombs. The bombs were deliverable by airplane, but were probably only intended as a deterrent. The programme was cancelled in 1989 while the seventh bomb was still under construction, and by 1993 all the weapons and weapons production plants were dismantled. With this, South Africa became the only country known to have developed and produced nuclear weapons and then completely disarmed. South Africa’s nuclear weapons programme is especially interesting because the programme was kept secret both internally and externally, and because the weapons were technically simple. The weapons programme can therefore be seen as an example of what a state can manage secretly and with relatively few resources. South Africa’s situation still differs from most other states because the country from the 1950s onward was one of the world’s largest producers of uranium and therefore had no need of importing nuclear raw materials for the programme. This report discusses the technical aspects of the development of South Africa’s nuclear weapons programme. It also describes the political circumstances that lead to the construction of the programme and the subsequent disarmament.