START II

START II
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty II; ; Договор о сокращении стратегических наступательных вооружений
	PresidentsGeorge H. W. BushandBoris Yeltsinsign START II on 3 January 1993 in Vladimir Hall,Moscow Kremlin
Type	Strategicnuclear disarmament
Drafted	1991 – 17 June 1992
Signed	3 January 1993
Location	Moscow,Russia
Effective	14 April 2000
Condition	Ratification of both parties
Expiration	13 June 2002
Signatories	George H. W. Bush; Boris Yeltsin;
Parties	United States; Russia; (officially withdrew in 2002);
Ratifiers	U.S. Senate; State Duma;
Languages	English,Russian

START II(Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was abilateral treatybetween theUnited StatesandRussiaon the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. It was signed byUS President George H. W. BushandRussian President Boris Yeltsinon 3 January 1993,^[1]banning the use ofmultiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles(MIRVs) onintercontinental ballistic missiles(ICBMs). Hence, it is often cited as theDe-MIRV-ing Agreement.

It was ratified by theUS Senateon 26 January 1996 with a vote of 87–4. Russia ratified START II on 14 April 2000, making it conditional on preserving theABM Treaty.^[2]When the US withdrew from the ABM Treaty on 13 June 2002, Russia withdrew from START II one day later.^[2]Thus, START II never entered into effect.

Instead,SORTcame into effect, which reduced the strategic warheads count per country to 1,700–2,200.

Impact of MIRV

ICBMsusingMIRVsare considered destabilizing because they put a premium on afirst strike.These missiles can carry from two warheads to as many as 50 in some Soviet super-heavy missile designs. They can also carry a large number of decoys. Significant numbers of highly accurate warheads and decoys could annihilate an entire nation in a first strike, including a substantial amount of an opponent's missile silos and air force bomber fleet.

Hypothetically, if each side had 100 missiles, with five warheads each, and each side had a 95% chance of neutralizing its opponent's missiles in their silos by firing two warheads at each silo, the side that strikes first can reduce the enemy ICBM force from 100 missiles to about five by firing 40 missiles with 200 warheads and keeping the remaining 60 missiles in reserve. Thus, the destruction capability is greatly multiplied by MIRVs since the number of enemy silos does not significantly increase.

Both SovietR-36Mand USLGM-118 Peacekeepermissiles could carry up to 10 MIRVs though the latter are no longer operational.

Negotiations

The historic agreement started on 17 June 1992 with the signing of a joint understanding by both presidents. The official signing of the treaty by the presidents took place on 3 January 1993. It was ratified by theUS Senateon 26 January 1996 with a vote of 87–4. However, Russian ratification was stalled in theState Dumafor many years. It was postponed many times to protest American military actions inIraqand inKosovoand to oppose theexpansion of NATOinEastern Europe.The treaty became less relevant as the years passed, and both sides started to lose interest in it.

On 14 April 2000, the Russian Duma finally ratified the treaty with some conditions. Specifically, these conditions were that the US would continue to uphold theABM Treaty,^[2]and that the US Senate would ratify a September 1997addendumto START II that included agreed statements on the demarcation ofstrategic and tactical missile defenses.The US Senate never ratified the addendum, as a faction of Republicans led byJesse Helmsopposed any limits on American anti-ballistic missile systems.^[3]As a result, START II never entered into force.^[2]

Replaced by SORT

However, in 2001, US PresidentGeorge W. Bushset a plan in motion to reduce the country's missile forces from 6,000 to between 1,700 and 2,200.

Thus, the START II treaty was officially bypassed by theStrategic Offensive Reductions Treaty(SORT), which was agreed to by Bush and Russian PresidentVladimir Putinat their summit meeting in November 2001 and signed at Moscow Summit on 24 May 2002. Both sides agreed to reduce operationally-deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,700 from 2,200 by 2012.

On 13 June 2002, the US withdrew from theABM Treaty,and the following day, Russia announced that it would no longer consider itself to be bound by START II provisions. Both countries continued to pursue their objectives. Russia still retains 54 MIRV-capable RS-20/R-36M (SS-18 Satan) with 10 warheads each, 40 MIRV-capable RS-18/UR-100N (SS-19 Stiletto) with 6 warheads each and 24 MIRV-capableRS-24 Yarswith 3 warheads each.^[4]The US developed theGround-Based Midcourse Defense(GMD) system to protect itself from small-scale ICBM attacks.

In October 2002, the US began its unilateral withdrawal of MIRV (including complete deactivation ofPeacekeeper missiles) and completed it by 19 September 2005. TheMinuteman IIIis, as of 2011, the only American land-based operational ICBM. It can potentially carry only three RVs.

References

^"START II".fas.org.Retrieved19 August2011.
^^a ^b ^c ^dValerie Pacer (2015).Russian Foreign Policy Under Dmitry Medvedev, 2008-2012.p. 140.
^Richard Dean Burns (2010).The Missile Defense Systems of George W. Bush.Praegar Security International. pp. 62–63.
^"Chapter Five: Russia and Eurasia", The Military Balance 114, Nr. 1 (1. Januar 2014): 180f.

External links

[1] "START II".fas.org.Retrieved19 August2011.

[pacer-2] Valerie Pacer (2015).Russian Foreign Policy Under Dmitry Medvedev, 2008-2012.p. 140.

[3] Richard Dean Burns (2010).The Missile Defense Systems of George W. Bush.Praegar Security International. pp. 62–63.

[4] "Chapter Five: Russia and Eurasia", The Military Balance 114, Nr. 1 (1. Januar 2014): 180f.

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Impact of MIRV

Negotiations

Replaced by SORT

See also

References

External links