On the morning of July 16, 1945, the United States entered the nuclear age. At that time, the world's first nuclear test was conducted in the desert in the state of New Mexico in the United States.

The bomb was given the code name Trinity.

Barely a month later, an American bomber dropped the "Little Boy" atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. Later, "Fat Man" was released over the city of Nagasaki.

According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, there are no exact death rates. But they have previously been estimated at 210,000 people. It is the only time nuclear weapons have been used in war.

Hiroshima a few weeks after the US atomic bomb was dropped in 1945. Photo: AP

Stop for decades

The United States has conducted more than 1,000 nuclear tests since 1945, but they were temporarily halted in 1992 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Then the United States introduced a moratorium - a delay.

But in May 2020, there was a great uproar when American media stated that the United States is considering resuming nuclear tests. Now Donald Trump says that the United States does not have such plans.

"Since 1992, we have respected the moratorium on such tests and relied on the technical-scientific expertise of our weapons complex to ensure that our deterrent capability is safe, secure and effective," Donald Trump said in a written statement on Thursday.

"We stand by our word and adhere to the moratorium, even though Russia has carried out nuclear tests that have produced nuclear warheads, and despite fears that China has done the same."

An American strategic Ohio submarine (USS Alaska) with capacity for ballistic nuclear weapons robots. Photo: Susan Wohle, US Navy

Huge investments

However, the United States is investing between 1.2 and 1.7 trillion dollars to modernize its nuclear weapons in the next few years, according to previous information.

"In order to continue to protect the United States 'vital security interests, I have given my administration the task of revitalizing and modernizing the United States' nuclear security complex to maintain a credible deterrent effect," Trump said in a statement on Thursday.

The US can also deploy nuclear weapons against large-scale cyber attacks, as shown by the US Nuclear Posture Review 2018.

The policy is a continuation of a modernization of the US nuclear forces that former President Barack Obama initiated.