Question

The United States stockpiled more than 10,000 weapons by 1971. When did the Soviet Union reach the same number of nuclear weapons?

Answer 1

Assuming we're talking nuclear weapons, the USA had 10,000 warheads by 1958, let alone 1971. The Soviets reached the 10,000 warhead mark by 1968.

Explanation:

I'm first going to assume we're talking about nuclear weapons.

In looking into this, it looks like the US stockpiled a lot more than 10,000 warheads by 1971. Here's the chart:

According to the chart, the US had 10,000 warheads by roughly 1958 (with roughly half being "strategic nuclear weapons" - or ones that were to be used to bomb enemy territory - and the other half being "non-strategic nuclear weapons" which are also known as "tactical nuclear weapons" and are used in battlefield situations on disputed territory).

Let's compare this to the Russians/Soviets:

The Russians/Soviets hit the 10,000 warhead mark at about 1968, with most of them being tactical warheads.

Since the question is asking about "10,000 warheads", I'll table out when each nation reached 10,000 warheads, in terms of total, Strategic, and Tactical (these are coming off the charts and are my best guess reading them):

`(("Year","USA S", "USA T", "USA Total", "USSR S", "USSR T", "USSR Total"),(1958,5500,4500,color(blue)10000,500,500,1000),(1959,7000,color(blue)10000,17000,500,500,1000),(1965,color(blue)10000,22000,32000,1000,5000,6000),(1968,17000,13000,30000,2000,8000,color(red)10000),(1970,12000,14000,26000,3000,color(red)10000,13000),(1983,14000,10000,24000,color(red)10000,26000,36000))`