thumb|300px|Міжнародна символика зброї масового ураження
'''Збро́я ма́сового ура́ження''' &nbsp;— зброя, призначена для нанесення масових втрат або руйнувань на великій площі.

Вражаючі чинники '''''зброї масового ураження''''', як правило, продовжують наносити ураження протягом тривалого часу. Також ЗМУ деморалізує як хімічних заводах тощо. 

На озброєнні сучасних держав перебувають такі види зброї масового ураження:
* хімічна зброя;
* біологічна зброя;
* ядерна зброя;
* запальна зброя.

thumb|250px|Ядерний вибух
'''Зброя масового ураження''' гіпотетично може працювати і на інших принципах:
* інфразвукова зброя
* радіологічна зброя
* надрадіочастотна зброя 
* генетична зброя 
* геофізична зброя 
* тектонічна зброя 
* променева зброя
Офіційно поява жодного прийняття на озброєння зразка подібної зброї не оголошено.

== Дивись також ==
* Ракетна зброя
* Інформаційна зброя
* Електромагнітна зброя
* Атомна бомба
* Вогнемет

A '''weapon of mass destruction''' ('''WMD''') is a nuclear, biological, chemical ('''NBC''') and, increasingly, radiological weapons. There is controversy over when the term was first used, either in 1937 (in reference to the aerial bombardment of Guernica, Spain) or in 1945 (with reference to nuclear weapons).
Following the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. Terms used in a military context include ''atomic, biological, and chemical warfare'' (ABC warfare), nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) after the invention of the hydrogen bomb, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN), recognizing the threat of subcritical radiological weapons.  

Due to the indiscriminate impact of WMD, the fear of a WMD attack has shaped political policies and campaigns, fostered social movements, and has been the central theme of many films. Support for different levels of WMD development and control varies nationally and internationally. Yet understanding of the nature of the threats is not high, in part because of imprecise usage of the term by politicians and the media.

At that time, there were no nuclear weapons; biological weapons were already being researched by Japan,<ref>[http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/japan/bw/ Biological Weapons Program - Japan<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> (see Unit 731), and chemical weapons had seen wide use.

The application of the term to specifically nuclear and Nagasaki (although it is not quite verbatim): a communique from a Atomic Energy Commission (predecessor of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)), which used the wording "…atomic weapons and of all other weapons adaptable to mass destruction".

An exact use of this term was given in a lecture "Foreign Service and the State Department, on September 17th, 1947.  The lecture is reprinted in ''The Open Mind'' (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955). "It is a very far reaching control which would eliminate the rivalry between nations in this field, which would prevent the surreptitious arming of one nation against another, which would provide some cushion of time before atomic attack, and presumably therefore before any attack with weapons of mass destruction, and which would go a long way toward removing atomic energy at least as a source of conflict between the powers."

An early use of the exact phrase in an international treaty was in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, however no definition was provided.

=== The Cold War and the War against Terrorism ===

The term "''WMD''" had fallen out of use since the early American nuclear arsenal.

In 1990 and during the 1991 Samuel Berger and Hussein’s regime. "Weapons of mass destruction" replaced "strategic weapons" in the common American lexicon. After 9/11, it would be the anthrax attacks, and the multitude of hypothetical smallpox terrorist attack scenarios in the media that would shape the prevalent image of a weapon of mass destruction into a device of alleged existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that became the primary word of the year in 2002,<ref>[http://www.americandialect.org/index.php/amerdial/2002_words_of_the_y/ American Dialect Society<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and in 2003 Lake Superior State University added WMD to its list of terms banished for "''Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness''".<ref>[http://www.lssu.edu/banished/archive/2003.php Lake Superior State University :: Banished Words List :: 2003<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

The most widely used definition is that of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons (NBC)
although there is no treaty or customary international law that contains an authoritative definition. Instead, international law has been used with respect to the specific categories of weapons within WMD, and not to WMD as a whole.

The  acronym NBC is used with regards to battlefield protection systems for armored vehicles, because all three involve insidious toxins that can be carried through the air and can be protected against with vehicle air filtration systems. However, there is an argument that nuclear weapons do not belong in the same category as chemical, biological, or "dirty bomb" radiological weapons, which have limited destructive potential (and close to none, as far as property is concerned), whereas nuclear weapons are immensely destructive and could be said to belong in a class by themselves. 

The NBC definition has also been used in official U.S. documents, by the US President<ref>http://nti.org/f_wmd411/f1a1_letter.html</ref><ref>http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=2001_presidential_documents&docid=pd14my01_txt-9.pdf</ref> the US Central Intelligence Agency,<ref>[http://www.odci.gov/cia/reports/721_reports/jan_jun2003.htm CIA Site Redirect — Central Intelligence Agency<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> the US Department of Defense,<ref>[http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/prolif97/message.html]</ref><ref>[http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/ptr20010110.pdf]</ref> and the US General Accounting Office.<ref>[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=gao&docid=f:d01582.pdf Weapons of Mass Destruction: State Department Oversight of Science Centers Program<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> 

Other documents expand the definition of WMD to also include radiological or conventional weapons. The US military refers to WMD as:
:''Weapons that are capable of a high order of destruction and/or of being used in such a manner as to destroy large numbers of people. Weapons of mass destruction can be high explosives or nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological weapons, but exclude the means of transporting or propelling the weapon where such means is a separable and divisible part of the weapon.''<ref>[http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/new_pubs/jp1_02.pdf JP 1-02 Deparment of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

The significance of the words ''separable and divisible part of the weapon'' is that missiles such as the Pershing II and the SCUD are considered weapons of mass destruction, while aircraft capable of carrying bombloads are not.

While in US civil defense, the category is now '''Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE)''', which defines WMD as:
:''(1) Any incendiary, mine or device similar to the above. (2) Poison gas. (3) Any weapon involving a disease organism. (4) Any weapon that is designed to release radiation at a level dangerous to human life.'' This definition derives from US law, 18 U.S.C. Section 2332a<ref>[http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00002332---a000-.html US CODE: Title 18,2332a. Use of weapons of mass destruction<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and the referenced 18 USC 921.<ref>[http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00000921----000-.html US CODE: Title 18,921. Definitions<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Indictments and convictions for possession and use of WMD such as truck bombs,<ref>[http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cas44.htm 8/95 Grand Jury Indictment Of McVeigh & Nichols<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> pipe bombs,<ref>[http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=search&case=/data2/circs/2nd/981723.html FindLaw for Legal Professionals - Case Law, Federal and State Resources, Forms, and Code<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> shoe bombs,<ref>[http://fl1.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/reid/usreid1002ind.pdf U.S. v. Richard C. Reid<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> cactus needles coated with botulin toxin,<ref>http://www.terrorisminfo.mipt.org/pdf/usvwiseandgrebe_99-40247.pdf</ref> etc. have been obtained under 18 USC 2332a.

The US Nagasaki''".<ref>[http://disarmament.un.org/cab/smallarms/statements/colombiaE.html Colombia<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

Chemical weapons expert Gert G. Harigel considers only nuclear weapons true weapons of mass destruction, because "only nuclear weapons are completely indiscriminate by their explosive power, heat radiation and radioactivity, and only they should therefore be called a weapon of mass destruction". He prefers to call chemical and biological weapons "weapons of terror" when aimed against civilians and "weapons of intimidation" for soldiers. Testimony of one such soldier expresses the same viewpoint.<ref>[http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/other/nbc.htm A Soldier's Viewpoint on Surviving Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Attacks<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> For a period of several months in the winter of 2002-2003, US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz frequently used the term "weapons of mass terror," apparently also recognizing the distinction between the psychological and the physical effects of many things currently falling into the WMD category.

An additional condition often implicitly applied to WMD is that the use of the weapons must be strategic. In other words, they would be designed to "''have consequences far outweighing the size and effectiveness of the weapons themselves''".<ref>[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7813-991589,00.html What makes a weapon one of mass destruction? - Times Online<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The strategic nature of WMD also defines their function in the military doctrine of total war as targeting the means a country would use to support and supply its war effort, specifically its population, industry, and natural resources. 

''The Washington Post'' reported on 3/30/2006: "Jurors asked the judge in the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui today to define the term "weapons of mass destruction" and were told it includes airplanes used as missiles". Moussaoui was indicted and tried for the use of airplanes as WMD.(see above).

==WMD use and control==

The development and use of WMD is governed by international conventions and treaties, although not all countries have signed and ratified them:
*Partial Test Ban Treaty
*Outer Space Treaty
*Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
*Seabed Arms Control Treaty
*Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)
*Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC)
*Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)

In 1996 the International Court of Justice provided an advisory opinion regarding the use and threat of use of nuclear weapons. The statement is an authoritative legal pronouncement but not legally binding. It stated that any threat of the use of force, or the use of force, by means of nuclear weapons that is contrary to Article 2, paragraph 4 of the United Nations Charter or that fails to meet all the requirements of Article 51 would be unlawful.

Adopted by the UN Security Council on April 28, 2004, UN Resolution 1540 recognizes the threat posed to international peace and security by nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, as well as their means of delivery. It calls upon greater effort by nations to limit proliferation of such weapons.

Weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear weapons, are rarely used because their use is essentially an "invitation" for a WMD retaliation, which in turn could escalate into a war so destructive it could easily destroy huge segments of the world's population.  During the Cold War, this understanding became known as mutually assured destruction and was largely the reason war never broke out between the WMD-armed United States and Soviet Union.

==WMD use, possession and access==
===Nuclear weapons===
thumb|[[Nuclear weapons and the United States|U.S. nuclear warheads, 1945-2002]]

The only country to have used a nuclear weapon in war is the United States. There are eight countries that have declared they possess nuclear weapons and are known to have tested a nuclear weapon, only five  of which are members of the NPT. The eight include: People's Republic of China; France; India; Pakistan; Russia; The United Kingdom; the United States of America; and Israel is considered by most analysts to have nuclear weapons numbering in the low hundreds as well, but maintains an official policy of nuclear ambiguity, neither denying nor confirming its nuclear status. Iran is suspected by western countries of seeking nuclear weapons, a claim that it denies. South Africa developed a small nuclear arsenal in the 1980s but disassembled them in the early 1990s, making it the only country to have fully given up an independently developed nuclear weapons arsenal. Germany, Netherlands, and North Korea has claimed to have developed and tested nuclear devices; although outside sources have been unable to unequivocally support the state's claims, North Korea has officially been identified to have nuclear weapons.

==United States politics==

Fear of WMD, or of threats diminished by the possession of WMD, has long been used to catalyze public support for various WMD policies. They include mobilization of pro- and anti-WMD campaigners alike, and generation of popular political support. The term WMD may be used as a powerful buzzword,<ref>[http://www.thornwalker.com/ditch/dtw_wmd.htm DAVID T. WRIGHT - Weapons of mass distraction<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> or to generate a culture of fear.<ref>[http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1256 Weapons of Mass Destruction Are Overrated as a Threat to America: Newsroom: The Independent Institute<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. It is also used ambiguously, particularly by not distinguishing among the different types of WMD.<ref name="autogenerated1">https://ssl.tnr.com/p/docsub.mhtml?i=20021007&s=easterbrook100702</ref>

A Daisy'', promoting Democrat presidential candidacy, invoked the fear of a nuclear war and was an element in Johnson's subsequent election. 

More recently, the threat of potential WMD in Iraq was used by George W. Bush to generate public support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.<ref>[http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Weapons_of_mass_deception Weapons of mass deception - SourceWatch<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://www.theava.com/03/08-13-warpimps.html War Pimps, by Jeffrey St. Clair [Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq, by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton&#93;<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Broad reference to Iraqi WMD in general was seen as an element of Bush's arguments.<ref name="autogenerated1" /> As Paul Wolfowitz explained: "For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction, because it was the one reason everyone could agree on."<ref name=USAToday>Qtd. in Coalition forces have found mainly degraded artillery shells. On June 21, 2006, United States Senator Rick Santorum claimed that "We have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons." According to the Washington Post, he was referring to 500 such shells "that had been buried near the Iranian border, and then long forgotten, by Iraqi troops during their eight-year war with Iran, which ended in 1988."  That night, "intelligence officials reaffirmed that the shells were old and were not the suspected weapons of mass destruction sought in Iraq after the 2003 invasion."  The shells had been uncovered and reported on in 2004.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/21/AR2006062101837.html Lawmakers Cite Weapons Found in Iraq - washingtonpost.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In 2004 Polish troops found 17 1980s-era rocket warheads, thwarting an attempt by militants to buy them at $5000 each.  Some of the rockets contained extremely deteriorated nerve agent.<ref></ref> 

==Media coverage of WMD==

In 2004 the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) released a report<ref>[http://www.cissm.umd.edu/documents/WMDstudy_full.pdf] by Prof. Susan Moeller</ref> examining the media’s coverage of WMD issues during three separate periods: India’s nuclear weapons tests in May 1998; the US announcement of evidence of a North Korean nuclear weapons program in October 2002; and revelations about bias among the media than from tired journalistic conventions. The report’s major findings were that:
# ''Most media outlets represented WMD as a monolithic menace, failing to adequately distinguish between weapons programs and actual weapons or to address the real differences among chemical, biological, nuclear, and radiological weapons.
# ''Most journalists accepted the Bush administration’s formulation of the “War on Terror” as a campaign against WMD, in contrast to coverage during the Clinton era, when many journalists made careful distinctions between acts of terrorism and the acquisition and use of WMD.
# ''Many stories stenographically reported the incumbent administration’s perspective on WMD, giving too little critical examination of the way officials framed the events, issues, threats, and policy options.
# ''Too few stories proffered alternative perspectives to official line, a problem exacerbated by the journalistic prioritizing of breaking-news stories and the “inverted pyramid” style of storytelling.

In a separate study published in 2005,<ref>[http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0956-7976 Psychological Science - Journal Information<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> a group of researchers assessed the effects reports and retractions in the media had on people’s search for WMD in Iraq during the 2003 Iraq War. The study focused on populations in two coalition countries (false memory that WMD were indeed discovered, while they were not. This led to three conclusions:
# ''The repetition of tentative news stories, even if they are subsequently disconfirmed, can assist in the creation of false memories in a substantial proportion of people.
# ''Once information is published, its subsequent correction does not alter people's beliefs unless they are suspicious about the motives underlying the events the news stories are about.
# ''When people ignore corrections, they do so irrespective of how certain they are that the corrections occurred.

A poll conducted between June and September of 2003 asked people whether they thought WMD had been discovered in Iraq since the war ended.  They were also asked which media sources they relied upon. Those who obtained their news primarily from Fox News were three times as likely to believe that evidence confirming WMD had been discovered in Iraq than those who relied on PBS and NPR for their news, and one third more likely than those who primarily watched CBS.

{| class="wikitable"
| '''Media source'''
| '''Respondents believing evidence of WMD had been found in Iraq since the war ended'''
|-
|Fox
|33%
|-
|CBS
|23%
|-
|NBC
|20%
|-
|CNN
|20%
|-
|ABC
|19%
|-
|Print media
|17%
|-
|PBS-NPR
|11%
|}
Based on a series of polls taken from June-September 2003.<ref>[http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Iraq/Media_10_02_03_Report.pdf ''Misperceptions, the Media and the Iraq War''], PIPA, October 2, 2003</ref>

In 2005 the Washington Post reported that US troops had raided a suspected chemical weapons factory.<ref></ref> In 2006 Fox News reported the claims of two Republican lawmakers that WMDs had been found in Iraq,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200499,00.html|title= 
Report: Hundreds of WMDs Found in Iraq|publisher=date=2006-06-22}}</ref> based upon unclassified portions of a report by the [[National Ground Intelligence Center. Quoting from the report Senator Rick Santorum said "Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent". Many news agencies, including Fox News, reported the conclusions of the CIA that, based upon the investigation of the Iraq Survey Group, WMDs have yet to be found in Iraq.<ref></ref><ref></ref>

'''Note:'''

From US Code Title 18.2332a [http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/2332a.html]

 (2) the term “weapon of mass destruction” means—
    (A) any destructive device as defined in section 921 of this title;
    (B) any weapon that is designed or intended to cause death or serious bodily injury through the release, dissemination, or 
        impact of toxic or poisonous chemicals, or their precursors;
    (C) any weapon involving a biological agent, toxin, or vector (as those terms are defined in section 178 of this title); or
    (D) any weapon that is designed to release radiation or radioactivity at a level dangerous to human life;

From Title 18.921 [http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00000921----000-.html]

 (4) The term “destructive device” means—
    (A) any explosive, incendiary, or poison gas—
       (i) bomb,
       (ii) grenade,
       (iii) rocket having a propellant charge of more than four ounces,
       (iv) missile having an explosive or incendiary charge of more than one-quarter ounce,
       (v) mine, or
       (vi) device similar to any of the devices described in the preceding clauses;
    (B) any type of weapon (other than a shotgun or a shotgun shell which the Attorney General finds is generally recognized as 
        particularly suitable for sporting purposes) by whatever name known which will, or which may be readily converted to, expel 
        a projectile by the action of an explosive or other propellant, and which has any barrel with a bore of more than one-half 
        inch in diameter; and
    (C) any combination of parts either designed or intended for use in converting any device into any destructive device described  
        in subparagraph (A) or (B) and from which a destructive device may be readily assembled.
  The term “destructive device” shall not include any device which is neither designed nor redesigned for use as a weapon; any   
  device, although originally designed for use as a weapon, which is redesigned for use as a signaling, pyrotechnic, line throwing, 
  safety, or similar device; surplus ordnance sold, loaned, or given by the Secretary of the Army pursuant to the provisions of 
  section 4684 (2), 4685, or 4686 of title 10; or any other device which the Attorney General finds is not likely to be used as a 
  weapon, is an antique, or is a rifle which the owner intends to use solely for sporting, recreational or cultural purposes.