The START Proposal: Verification Issues (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
June 25, 1982 |
| Report Number |
IP226 |
| Authors |
Mark M. Lowenthal, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
At Eureka College on May 9, 1982 President Reagan gave a basic outline of the approach that the United States will pursue in the upcoming START (STrategic Arms Reduction Talks) talks. This approach, not all of which was detailed in the Eureka speech, involves two phases: Phase 1: a mutual limit for the United States and the Soviet Union of 5,000 warheads on no more than 850 ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) and SLBMs (Sea Launched Ballistic Missiles). Within that limit
no more that 2,500 warheads could be deployed on land-based ICBMs. This reduction would take place over a 5 to 10 year period. Phase 2: the aggregate throw weight (i.e., the sum of the payload capacities of all ballistic missiles expressed in poundage for reentry vehicles of all types, both warheads and decoys) of both forces would be equalized. The United States will reportedly seek to have the limit
on ICBM throw weight be no larger than that of the current U.S. ICBM force (approximately 2,220,330 lbs., as opposed to 9,954,100 lbs. for Soviet ICBMs). This phase would also take other systems into
account, and would seek further reductions as well.
