U.S. SEEKS TO WIDEN NUCLEAR DEAL WITH RUSSIA
The U.S. wants to broaden its nuclear arms control pact with
Russia to include all their atomic weapons
U.S. special presidential envoy Marshall Billingslea
urged China to join the talks on replacing the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction
Treaty (New START), which expires in February
New
START (Strategic
Arms Reduction Treaty): Nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation
Signed
on 8 April 2010 in Prague
Treaty
entered into force on 5 February 2011
Treaty
will last ten years, with an option to renew it for up to five years upon
agreement of both parties
New
START treaty is the successor to the START I. The START II was signed, but not ratified. The
START III negotiating process was not successful
New
START replaced the Treaty of Moscow (SORT),
which was to expire in December 2012
Treaty
limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550
Limit
the number of deployed and non-deployed inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM)
launchers, submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM)
launchers, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear
armaments to 800
Number
of deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear armaments is
limited to 700
When
New START entered into force, both participating states could begin performing
inspections on each other.
Each
state is granted 18 on-site inspections per year, which can be designated into
two categories: Type 1 and Type 2 inspections
Type
1 inspections are specific to military bases that house only deployed ICBMs,
SLBMs and bombers. Type 2 inspections include facilities that have non-deployed
systems as well. Only 10 Type 1 inspections and eight Type 2 inspections are
allowed by the treaty each year
States
can also announce the arrival of an inspection team with as little notice as 32
hours before
Treaty
places no limits on tactical systems, such as the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning
II.
