Yamatai and weapons of mass destruction

Yamatai has developed and possesses weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and nuclear weapons. The first of Yamatai's nuclear tests took place in 1976, and its first hydrogen bomb test occurred in 1985.

The number of nuclear warheads in Yamatai's arsenal is a state secret. There are varying estimates of the size of Yamatai's arsenal, with official Ordic League estimates placing the number at 260 total warheads as of 2015. According to some estimates, the country could "more than double" the "number of warheads on missiles that could threaten Amphia by the mid-2020s".

Yamatai maintains a minimum deterrent posture with its nuclear arsenal, though does not observe no-first-use. Yamatai's government has come under fire occasionally for a "cavalier attitude" towards the use of nuclear weapons, often using their nuclear arsenal as a bargaining chip in regional negotiations. Yamatai's nuclear arsenal notably requires approval by the Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Empress of Yamatai, though the Teikoku Gikai parliament is not involved in the process. This is one of the few areas where the ceremonial Empress is still involved in any military or governmental affairs.

History
The Yamataian nuclear weapons program began in the mid-1950s as a secret offshoot of the nuclear power program. In 1954, Chisei agreed to provide training and fissile material for peaceful nuclear energy development in Yamatai with the agreement that Yamatai would not pursue a nuclear weapons program. Despite this agreement, the dictator of Yamatai at the time, Okabe Nariakira, ordered the newly-created Ministry of Defence to establish a secret nuclear weapons program. The Ministry formed the 144th Special Projects Division to run Yamatai's clandestine nuclear weapons program, with the unit officially operating as an electronic warfare research unit. Okabe and others in the Yamataian government were highly concerned about the unfolding Escaric Divide and sought to ensure that Yamatai attained nuclear weapons capability to provide an effective deterrent against the collectivist countries.

The need for Yamatai to attain nuclear weapons capability became even more urgent after the outbreak of the Dai Hoa Unification War between collectivist-backed Dai Hoa and the Western Escar-backed Song Republic. The threat of nuclear attacks from Arshavat should the east-west confrontation spread beyond Dai Hoa became a major fear amongst the Western Escaric leaderships. These fears were proven when Arshavat first deployed two tactical nuclear weapons on the front lines in Dai Hoa on 2 December 1958, and later destroyed Yamethin with a strategic nuclear weapon on 5 December. The bombing of Yamethin proved to the world the destructive capabilities of the nuclear bomb, and there was an increased urgency in Yamatai to develop a nuclear weapon.

Yamatai's nuclear weapons program would suddenly attain a breakthrough in the days following the bombing of Yamethin. Yamataian codebreakers had already broken the Arshavati codes and deciphered plans to carry out a second nuclear bombing of Hai Phuong, capital of the Song Republic, on the 10th of December. Risking the nuclear destruction of Hai Phuong to further Yamatai's goals, this information was not shared with the other nations of the Three Powers Alliance, and Yamataian fighters intercepted the bomber while it was flying south. The wreckage was then located and clandestinely recovered by Yamataian special forces troops in a secret operation that lasted several weeks, with the Arshavati nuclear device arriving at Wangan on 15 January 1959.

Research into reverse-engineering and replicating the Arshavati device began throughout 1959 and 1960. Unsubstantiated claims state that Yamatai may have carried out a nuclear test in October 1960, when a sudden earthquake and unknown radiation spikes were measured in the vicinity of the remote island Toishima, which later became used as a nuclear test site.

On 23 June 1961, Yamatai announced that they had developed a nuclear weapon and unveiled their first nuclear bomb, the HaGe-2923, nicknamed "Baldie" (Hage) after its designation. The first publicly acknowledged Yamataian nuclear test subsequently occurred on 15 August 1961 on Toishima. Around this time, the 144th Special Projects Division began development of the first Yamataian nuclear ballistic missile, the Kamikaze-1, which was largely based on Chiseian components that were shared with Yamatai, as Chisei was no longer opposed to Yamatai operating a nuclear arsenal. On 2 January 1962, Prime Minister Okabe signed the Yamataian Nuclear Weapons Governance Act, which states Yamatai's official nuclear weapons policy of minimum deterrence and the policy of Imperial Assent for the weapons to be used.

Following Okabe's assassination in 1962 and the transfer of power to Yamatai's first democratically elected administration under Okudera Gunzo, the controversial Yamataian nuclear weapons program saw a significant expansion as Okudera's Yamatai Restoration Party was strongly in favour of developing a credible nuclear deterrent. In 1964, Yamatai's first Kamikaze-1 missiles were unveiled during a military parade, and were placed under the control of the Yamatai Imperial Army's 17th Artillery Division.

Yamatai tested its first hydrogen bomb on Toishima on 17 July 1975. On 30 May 1976, Yamatai carried out Operation Raiden 1976, a ballistic missile test of the new Kamikaze-2 intercontinental ballistic missile, targeting Toishima from a silo in southern Harukuni with a live hydrogen warhead. Though Yamatai had officially informed all nations in the region weeks prior to the test, it was still heavily criticised by East Kuiju and Arshavat as a provocation, and this test is often considered to have contributed to the outbreak of the Kuijuan War shortly after in June 1976. Operation Raiden 1976 would be the final nuclear weapons test conducted by Yamatai.

In 1999, the Yamatai Strategic Missile Force was split from the Yamatai Imperial Army as a fourth branch of the Yamataian military responsible for the maintenance and usage of all land-based ballistic missiles in Yamatai, including both conventional and nuclear weapons.

In 2015, declassified documents revealed the means by which Yamatai originally attained its nuclear weapons capability, triggering a brief period of outrage in Chisei and Dai Hoa.