Post by Andrei Tchentchik on Sept 3, 2020 15:24:25 GMT 2
(.#508).- New Start Treaty for the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons.
New Start Treaty for the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons.
The New Start ("Start" for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, Russian: СНВ-III) is the common name of a treaty to reduce strategic nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia. It was signed on April 8, 2010 in Prague and, after its ratification, entered into force on February 5, 2011 for a period of ten years.
The full name of this treaty is in English. Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, and in Russian ограничению стратегических наступательных вооружений.
The New Start replaces both the Start I treaty which expired on December 5, 2009 and the Sort treaty signed in 2002 which was to expire in 2012. It takes the name of the Start treaties for the reduction of strategic weapons of the 1990s. Treaty limit the number of strategic nuclear launchers deployed to 700 and the number of deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550. They are also establishing a new system for inspecting and verifying compliance with the terms of the agreement.
The New Start Treaty, however, does not limit the number of inactive nuclear warheads stored and does not concern tactical nuclear weapons. Although thus constituting only a modest step towards nuclear disarmament, it allows the Americans and the Russians to avail themselves of it in the perspective of the conference of examination of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which is held in the spring of 2010 and to affirm that they respect Article VI3 which aims ultimately at nuclear disarmament.
Nuclear weapons reduction treaties signed by the United States and the USSR / Russia
Acronym Year signature Year ratification
Salt I 1972 1972
Salt II 1979 Not done
INF 1987 1988
Start I 1991 1994
Start II 1993 1996 United States
2000 Russia
Sort 2002 2003
New Start 2010 2011
International and strategic context
Arrived at the White House on January 20, 2009, Barack Obama gives high priority to nuclear issues and the relaunch of relations with Russia. Starting in February 2009, the new Obama administration sent clear signals to Moscow about the will to restart the relationship between the United States and Russia on new bases. To concretely support these declarations, Obama announces the freezing of the installation of the American anti-missile shield in Europe. On April 5, 2009, at a summit between the United States and the European Union in Prague, he affirmed "clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek peace and security in a world without nuclear weapons. And confirms that "this year we will negotiate a new strategic arms reduction treaty with Russia".
However, caution remains required on each side. For example, in March 2009 Medvedev announced large-scale rearmament to "increase the combat capacity of our forces, above all those of our strategic nuclear forces", in particular to counteract the ceaseless attempts by NATO to develop its military infrastructure near Russia.
The two sides, however, have no interest in relaunching a strategic arms race and need to cooperate on the Iranian nuclear issue and more generally in the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and international terrorism. At the Russian-American summit on July 6 and 7, 2009, Barack Obama called for an end to the antagonism between the United States and Russia; several joint memorandums are signed concerning the continuation of the Start negotiations, missile defense, cooperation in the nuclear field and Afghanistan.
Negotiation, signature and ratification of the treaty
Treaty negotiations begin in April 2009 after a first meeting in London between Barack Obama and Dmitri Medvedev on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
Carried out very quickly, they lead to a first document of agreement signed by Obama and Medvedev during the summit which reunites them in Moscow on July 6, 2009. This intermediate memorandum of understanding instructs the negotiators to find a new agreement which would maintain the verification mechanisms of the 1991 Start I Treaty, would cap the number of launchers at a range between 500 and 1,100, and strategic nuclear warheads deployed between 1,500 and 1,675, down significantly from the previous ceiling of 2,200.
Presidents Obama and Medvedev announced on March 26, 2010 that they had concluded an agreement and signed the "New Start" treaty on April 8, 2010 in Prague.
In the United States, treaties must be ratified by two-thirds of the Senate, or 67 out of 100 elected. Although a majority, Democrats need Republican support to ratify the treaty. After lengthy negotiations, on December 22, 2010, the United States Senate voted to ratify the treaty by 71 votes to 2.619. Thirteen Republican senators, fifty-six Democratic senators and two independent senators voted in favor of ratification. Obama signs the instruments of ratification on February 2, 2011.
Despite significant opposition resulting from the absence of a missile defense clause, deputies of the State Duma, lower house of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, vote on January 25, 2011 to ratify the treaty by 350 votes in favor, 96 against and one abstention. The next day, the upper house, the Council of the Russian Federation unanimously approved it. On January 28, 2011, President Medvedev signed the ratification law passed by the federal assembly.
Treaty enters into force on February 5, 2011 when Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton exchange instruments of ratification at the 2011 annual conference in Munich on security.
Weapons concerned and planned ceilings
The treaty covers three types of strategic nuclear offensive weapons: intercontinental missiles (ICBM), ballistic missiles launched from submarines (SLBM) and heavy bombers. As these three types of launchers can carry several nuclear warheads, the treaty also sets limits on their number for these three types of weapons. Finally, the treaty draws a distinction between deployed weapons, that is to say ready for operational use, and non-deployed weapons, that is to say stored but not destroyed.
Situation of nuclear arsenals deployed as of February 5, 2018 :
Total ICBM SLBM Bombardiers nuclear warheads
Ceiling 700 1,550
United States 652 400 203 49 1,350
Russia 527 1,444
Each of the parties to the treaty is free from the proportion of weapons of each of the three types that it decides to deploy, as long as it respects the overall ceiling. The treaty provides for specific stages of implementation, the main one of which is reaching the ceilings provided seven years after its entry into force, that is, on February 5, 2018. The United States and Russia respect the planned ceilings.
To date, the United States has deployed 400 Minuteman III launchers in shore silos, 203 Trident II launchers aboard 14 Ohio-class nuclear-powered missile submarines and 49 heavy bombers equipped with nuclear weapons (13 B- 2A and 39 B-52 H). To meet this limit, the United States, for example, reduced the number of Trident II missile launchers equipping the Ohio-class SNLEs from 24 to 20.
Note that on the eve of the NPT review conference (NPT 2) to be held 5 years after the speech by Prague by Barack Obama (April 5, 2009), the Russian army announces the resumption of operation of the "train Nuclear Barguzin "for 2018, the agreement being planned and negotiated between the United States and Russia as part of the New Start treaty revoking the ban made on the occasion of the Start II agreements.
Procedures for verifying compliance with the treaty
The verification measures provided for in the treaty include on-site inspections and exposures, data exchange and notifications relating to strategic offensive weapons and installations covered by the treaty, as well as provisions facilitating the use of national technical means. To strengthen confidence and transparency, the treaty also provides for an annual exchange of telemetry data on an agreed number of ICBM and SLBM launches.
Evolution of strategic nuclear weapons ceilings
Since the end of the Cold War, three bilateral treaties between the United States and Russia have been successively in force aimed at limiting the number of strategic nuclear weapons: Start I, Sort and New Start. The Start II treaty, although ratified several years after its signature, ultimately never entered into force. From Start I to New Start, the overall launch vehicle ceilings are halved, from 1,600 to 800 launchers, of which only 700 are deployed, and nuclear warheads divided by four, from 6,000 to 1,550.
Ceilings authorized by strategic nuclear arsenal reduction treaties between the United States and Russia :
Characteristic element of the treaty Start I Sort New Start
Date of signature July 31, 1991 May 24, 2002 April 8, 2010
Effective Date December 5, 1994 June 1, 2003 February 5, 2011
Expiration date 2009 2012 2021
Ceiling on the
number of launchers Global limit 1,600 _ 800 launchers
deployed and not
deployed
(ICBM, SLBM and bombers) Sub-limit _ _ 700 launchers deployed
Ceiling on
nuclear warheads Global limit 6,000 heads deployed 1,700-2,200 heads deployed 1,550 heads deployed
Sub-limit 4,900 heads for ICBM and SLBM
1,100 heads for mobile ICBM
1,540 heads for heavy ICBM _
Ceiling on the carrying
capacity of launchers 3,600 tonnes _ _
Notes to the table
↑ Three types of launchers are included: ICBM, SLBM and heavy bomber equipped to carry nuclear weapons. Short or medium range missiles are excluded.
↑ ICBM: intercontinental ballistic missile. SLBM: sea-to-ground ballistic missile aboard a missile submarine (SNLE); SNLEs have up to 24 SLBM launch silos.
F I N .
New Start Treaty for the reduction of strategic nuclear weapons.
The New Start ("Start" for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, Russian: СНВ-III) is the common name of a treaty to reduce strategic nuclear weapons between the United States and Russia. It was signed on April 8, 2010 in Prague and, after its ratification, entered into force on February 5, 2011 for a period of ten years.
The full name of this treaty is in English. Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, and in Russian ограничению стратегических наступательных вооружений.
The New Start replaces both the Start I treaty which expired on December 5, 2009 and the Sort treaty signed in 2002 which was to expire in 2012. It takes the name of the Start treaties for the reduction of strategic weapons of the 1990s. Treaty limit the number of strategic nuclear launchers deployed to 700 and the number of deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550. They are also establishing a new system for inspecting and verifying compliance with the terms of the agreement.
The New Start Treaty, however, does not limit the number of inactive nuclear warheads stored and does not concern tactical nuclear weapons. Although thus constituting only a modest step towards nuclear disarmament, it allows the Americans and the Russians to avail themselves of it in the perspective of the conference of examination of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which is held in the spring of 2010 and to affirm that they respect Article VI3 which aims ultimately at nuclear disarmament.
Nuclear weapons reduction treaties signed by the United States and the USSR / Russia
Acronym Year signature Year ratification
Salt I 1972 1972
Salt II 1979 Not done
INF 1987 1988
Start I 1991 1994
Start II 1993 1996 United States
2000 Russia
Sort 2002 2003
New Start 2010 2011
International and strategic context
Arrived at the White House on January 20, 2009, Barack Obama gives high priority to nuclear issues and the relaunch of relations with Russia. Starting in February 2009, the new Obama administration sent clear signals to Moscow about the will to restart the relationship between the United States and Russia on new bases. To concretely support these declarations, Obama announces the freezing of the installation of the American anti-missile shield in Europe. On April 5, 2009, at a summit between the United States and the European Union in Prague, he affirmed "clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek peace and security in a world without nuclear weapons. And confirms that "this year we will negotiate a new strategic arms reduction treaty with Russia".
However, caution remains required on each side. For example, in March 2009 Medvedev announced large-scale rearmament to "increase the combat capacity of our forces, above all those of our strategic nuclear forces", in particular to counteract the ceaseless attempts by NATO to develop its military infrastructure near Russia.
The two sides, however, have no interest in relaunching a strategic arms race and need to cooperate on the Iranian nuclear issue and more generally in the fight against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and international terrorism. At the Russian-American summit on July 6 and 7, 2009, Barack Obama called for an end to the antagonism between the United States and Russia; several joint memorandums are signed concerning the continuation of the Start negotiations, missile defense, cooperation in the nuclear field and Afghanistan.
Negotiation, signature and ratification of the treaty
Treaty negotiations begin in April 2009 after a first meeting in London between Barack Obama and Dmitri Medvedev on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
Carried out very quickly, they lead to a first document of agreement signed by Obama and Medvedev during the summit which reunites them in Moscow on July 6, 2009. This intermediate memorandum of understanding instructs the negotiators to find a new agreement which would maintain the verification mechanisms of the 1991 Start I Treaty, would cap the number of launchers at a range between 500 and 1,100, and strategic nuclear warheads deployed between 1,500 and 1,675, down significantly from the previous ceiling of 2,200.
Presidents Obama and Medvedev announced on March 26, 2010 that they had concluded an agreement and signed the "New Start" treaty on April 8, 2010 in Prague.
In the United States, treaties must be ratified by two-thirds of the Senate, or 67 out of 100 elected. Although a majority, Democrats need Republican support to ratify the treaty. After lengthy negotiations, on December 22, 2010, the United States Senate voted to ratify the treaty by 71 votes to 2.619. Thirteen Republican senators, fifty-six Democratic senators and two independent senators voted in favor of ratification. Obama signs the instruments of ratification on February 2, 2011.
Despite significant opposition resulting from the absence of a missile defense clause, deputies of the State Duma, lower house of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, vote on January 25, 2011 to ratify the treaty by 350 votes in favor, 96 against and one abstention. The next day, the upper house, the Council of the Russian Federation unanimously approved it. On January 28, 2011, President Medvedev signed the ratification law passed by the federal assembly.
Treaty enters into force on February 5, 2011 when Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton exchange instruments of ratification at the 2011 annual conference in Munich on security.
Weapons concerned and planned ceilings
The treaty covers three types of strategic nuclear offensive weapons: intercontinental missiles (ICBM), ballistic missiles launched from submarines (SLBM) and heavy bombers. As these three types of launchers can carry several nuclear warheads, the treaty also sets limits on their number for these three types of weapons. Finally, the treaty draws a distinction between deployed weapons, that is to say ready for operational use, and non-deployed weapons, that is to say stored but not destroyed.
Situation of nuclear arsenals deployed as of February 5, 2018 :
Total ICBM SLBM Bombardiers nuclear warheads
Ceiling 700 1,550
United States 652 400 203 49 1,350
Russia 527 1,444
Each of the parties to the treaty is free from the proportion of weapons of each of the three types that it decides to deploy, as long as it respects the overall ceiling. The treaty provides for specific stages of implementation, the main one of which is reaching the ceilings provided seven years after its entry into force, that is, on February 5, 2018. The United States and Russia respect the planned ceilings.
To date, the United States has deployed 400 Minuteman III launchers in shore silos, 203 Trident II launchers aboard 14 Ohio-class nuclear-powered missile submarines and 49 heavy bombers equipped with nuclear weapons (13 B- 2A and 39 B-52 H). To meet this limit, the United States, for example, reduced the number of Trident II missile launchers equipping the Ohio-class SNLEs from 24 to 20.
Note that on the eve of the NPT review conference (NPT 2) to be held 5 years after the speech by Prague by Barack Obama (April 5, 2009), the Russian army announces the resumption of operation of the "train Nuclear Barguzin "for 2018, the agreement being planned and negotiated between the United States and Russia as part of the New Start treaty revoking the ban made on the occasion of the Start II agreements.
Procedures for verifying compliance with the treaty
The verification measures provided for in the treaty include on-site inspections and exposures, data exchange and notifications relating to strategic offensive weapons and installations covered by the treaty, as well as provisions facilitating the use of national technical means. To strengthen confidence and transparency, the treaty also provides for an annual exchange of telemetry data on an agreed number of ICBM and SLBM launches.
Evolution of strategic nuclear weapons ceilings
Since the end of the Cold War, three bilateral treaties between the United States and Russia have been successively in force aimed at limiting the number of strategic nuclear weapons: Start I, Sort and New Start. The Start II treaty, although ratified several years after its signature, ultimately never entered into force. From Start I to New Start, the overall launch vehicle ceilings are halved, from 1,600 to 800 launchers, of which only 700 are deployed, and nuclear warheads divided by four, from 6,000 to 1,550.
Ceilings authorized by strategic nuclear arsenal reduction treaties between the United States and Russia :
Characteristic element of the treaty Start I Sort New Start
Date of signature July 31, 1991 May 24, 2002 April 8, 2010
Effective Date December 5, 1994 June 1, 2003 February 5, 2011
Expiration date 2009 2012 2021
Ceiling on the
number of launchers Global limit 1,600 _ 800 launchers
deployed and not
deployed
(ICBM, SLBM and bombers) Sub-limit _ _ 700 launchers deployed
Ceiling on
nuclear warheads Global limit 6,000 heads deployed 1,700-2,200 heads deployed 1,550 heads deployed
Sub-limit 4,900 heads for ICBM and SLBM
1,100 heads for mobile ICBM
1,540 heads for heavy ICBM _
Ceiling on the carrying
capacity of launchers 3,600 tonnes _ _
Notes to the table
↑ Three types of launchers are included: ICBM, SLBM and heavy bomber equipped to carry nuclear weapons. Short or medium range missiles are excluded.
↑ ICBM: intercontinental ballistic missile. SLBM: sea-to-ground ballistic missile aboard a missile submarine (SNLE); SNLEs have up to 24 SLBM launch silos.
F I N .
