Why START. [Strategic Arms Reduction Talks treaty]
Barring some major unexpected downturn in US-Soviet relations, it seems likely that the long-awaited Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) treaty will be signed sometime in 1991. Under negotiation for the past nine years, public acceptance and Senate approval of a START treaty will be facilitated by the generally less confrontational East-West relationship which has evolved over that time, by the growing constraints on the US defense budget, and by the obvious merits of the treaty itself. Not only will the nearly complete START treaty be an extremely useful and powerful arms control agreement, it is also decidedly advantageous to US security interests. First and foremost, a START treaty will cap and reduce the steady buildup of nuclear weapons that has characterized the last 30 years of the US-Soviet strategic relationship. As a result of the basic outline originally agreed to at the Reykjavik summit, START will take a 25 to 35 percent bite out of existing nuclear arsenals, impose approximately a 50 percent cut in overall Soviet ballistic missile warheads and throw-weight (lifting power or payload capacity), and produce an exact 50 percent cut in Soviet SS-18 missiles.
- OSTI ID:
- 6959032
- Journal Information:
- Arms Control Today; (United States), Journal Name: Arms Control Today; (United States) Vol. 21:3; ISSN 0196-125X; ISSN ACOTEB
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and its verification: Report No. 12
Rocky START: optimism and obstacles on the road to reductions
Related Subjects
290600 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Nuclear Energy
350101* -- Arms Control-- Policy
Negotiations
& Legislation-- Treaties-- (1987-)
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
ARMS CONTROL
ASIA
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
EUROPE
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
MISSILES
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
POLITICAL ASPECTS
TREATIES
USA
USSR
VERIFICATION
WEAPONS