How many existing basic design types are there of the weapons the United States and the Soviet Union had an arms race over?
Nuclear weapon design Nuclear weapon designs are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate. There are three existing basic design types. In many existing designs, the explosive energy of deployed devices is derived primarily from nuclear fission, not fusion. (This includes fission of any U-238 tamper or casing due to fusion produced neutrons.)
R-1 (missile) The R-1 rocket (NATO reporting name SS-1 Scunner, Soviet code name SA11, GRAU index 8A11) was a short-range ballistic missile manufactured in the Soviet Union based on the German V-2 rocket. Even though it was a copy, it was manufactured using Soviet industrial plants and gave the Soviets valuable experience which later enabled the USSR to construct its own much more capable rockets.