START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty)

• START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was a bilateral treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the reduction and the limitation of strategic offensive arms.
• The treaty was signed on 31 July 1991 and entered into force on 5 December 1994.
• It was indispensable in creating a framework that ensured predictability and stability for deep reductions.
• The dissolution of the Soviet Union caused a delay in the entry into force of the treaty, as the classification of states as nuclear or non-nuclear had to be determined, among other things.
• Reductions of nuclear weapons had to be completed within seven years after entry into force and maintained for another eight years. States were verified by on-site inspections.
• Both the United States and The Russian Federation continued reduction efforts.
• During the 1990s, the United States and Russia undertook several attempts to replace START I with a new treaty that would have provided for deeper reductions.
• The 1993 START II treaty never entered into force due to what Russia perceived as serious deficiencies of that treaty. Consultations on another treaty, sometimes referred to as START III were conducted from 1997-2000 but ended without result.
• The Moscow Treaty provided for significantly lower limits on strategic weapons, but lacked verification and transparency provisions.
• START I remained in force until December 5, 2009. It contained the option of extending the treaty for five-year periods, but Washington and Moscow decided against extension — negotiations were already underway on a new, replacement treaty, and START I was allowed to expire.
• The treaty expired on 5 December 2009.

Obligations under the treaty

• The treaty barred its signatories from deploying more than 6,000 nuclear warheads and a total of 1,600 intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and bombers.
• The first phase would reduce overall warhead counts on any missile type to 5,000, with an additional limit of 2,500 on ICBMs. Additionally, a total of 850 ICBMs would be allowed, with a limit of 110 “heavy throw” missiles like the SS-18 and additional limits on the total “throw weight” of the missiles.
• The second phase introduced similar limits on heavy bombers and their warheads, as well as other strategic systems.
• The construction of new types of heavy ICBMs and SLBMs is banned, although modernization programs and, in exceptional cases, new silo construction, are permitted.
• The treaty bans the testing of missiles equipped with a greater number of warheads than established in the treaty, and bans any new ballistic missiles with more than 10 warheads.

New START

• The United States and Russia signed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) on April 8, 2010.
• The United States ratified the treaty on December 22, 2011. · Previous Treaties: Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START, 1991), Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT, or Moscow Treaty, 2002).
• New START intended as a placeholder treaty that would set the groundwork for future negotiations.
• New START entered into force on February 5, 2011. Both parties are required to reach the limits on warheads and launchers specified in the treaty by February 2018. The duration of the treaty is ten years from entry into force (February 2021) unless both parties agree to extend the treaty for a subsequent five years.
• Each party is entitled to withdraw from New START if it is decided that “extraordinary events related to the subject matter of this treaty have jeopardized its supreme interests.” The treaty would terminate three months after a notice of withdrawal was issued.

Obligations under New START

• New START requires both countries to limit the number of deployed warheads to no more than 1,550 by February 5, 2018.
• The treaty establishes that the number of warheads on deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) is counted as the number of re-entry vehicles (RVs) on each missile.
• Heavy bombers are counted as one warhead against the total regardless of how many warheads they carry.
• Number of Launchers New START limits both parties to a maximum of 800 deployed and non-deployed ICBM and SLBM launchers. Of those 800, no more than 700 delivery systems may be deployed at any time.
• Neither party may convert ICBM or SLBM launchers into launchers for missile defense systems.