Nuclear weapons, ranging from small less-than-kiloton nukes such as those fired from a Nuke cannon to the far more powerful tactical nuclear missiles fired from a nuclear missile silo, were quite commonplace during the GLA conflict. China was the only country to use tactical nuclear weapons during the conflict. AAA-class PLA General Tsing Shi Tao in particular relied heavily on nuclear weaponry. The Global Liberation Army could acquire nukes, as Pakistan had materials to construct a small number of warheads, but the GLA lacked reliable means of deployment. In times of desperation they would even steal nukes directly from the Chinese or the Americans.
During the war the GLA inflitrated many post-Soviet countries and also invaded the Russian province of Chechnya, with support from local terrorist and separatist groups. The GLA also placed multiple SCUD storm launch sites in infiltrated territories, and threatened to use them against populated areas in mainland Russia. For these reasons Russia, with its massive arsenal of nuclear weaponry, remained largely neutral in the conflict, choosing not to deploy nuclear arms at any stage. After American forces removed both Dr.Thrax's ICBM launchers and GLA chemical weapon capability in Caucass, the Russian arsenal was also not deployed as collateral damage from Russian high-yield nukes would have been too great. Other nations invaded by the GLA also possessed nuclear weapons, but as the GLA was able to infiltrate these nations undetected and they possessed only high-yield weapons (India and Pakistan being notable examples), the use of such weapons would have had horrific consequences.
In the game, a player of the PRC faction can construct and launch Nuclear missiles to the designated targets, each of which would explode with the force enough to level a small enemy base with a single blow.