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U.S. and Soviet/Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces
START I was signed July 31, 1991, by the United States and the Soviet Union. Five months later, the Soviet Union dissolved, leaving four independent states in possession of strategic nuclear weapons: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. On May 23, 1992, the United States and the four nuclear-capable successor states to the Soviet Union signed the "Lisbon Protocol," which makes all five nations party to the START I agreement. START I entered into force December 5, 1994, when the five treaty parties exchanged instruments of ratification in Budapest. The treaty's implementation deadline is December 2001. Under START I, the five parties semiannually exchange memorandum of understanding (MOU) data providing numbers, types, and locations of accountable strategic nuclear weapons and their associated delivery vehicles. The tables below compare the number of START-accountable deployed warheads declared in the initial September 1990 MOU with data from the July 2000 MOU, demonstrating the progress the parties have made in nuclear force reductions to date. —For more information, contact Philipp C. Bleek. |
U.S. Strategic Forces:
Warheads by Delivery System1
| September 1990 | July 2000 | |
| ICBMs | ||
| MX | 500 | 500 |
| Minuteman III | 1,500 | 1,824 |
| Minuteman II | 450 | 1 |
| Total | 2,450 | 2,325 |
| SLBMs | ||
| Poseidon (C-3) | 1,920 | 160 |
| Trident I (C-4) | 3,072 | 1,536 |
| Trident II (D-5) | 768 | 1,920 |
| Total | 5,760 | 3,616 |
| Bombers | ||
| B-52 (ALCM) | 1,968 | 1,420 |
| B-52 (Non-ALCM) | 290 | 47 |
| B-1 | 95 | 91 |
| B-2 | 0 | 20 |
| Total | 2,353 | 1,578 |
| Total Warheads | 10,563 | 7,519 |
Soviet/Russian Strategic Forces:
Warheads by Delivery System1
| September 19902 | July 20003 | |
| ICBMs | ||
| SS-11 | 326 | 0 |
| SS-13 | 40 | 0 |
| SS-17 | 188 | 0 |
| SS-18 | 3,080 | 1,800 |
| SS-19 | 1,800 | 900 |
| SS-24 (silo) | 560 | 100 |
| SS-24 (rail) | 330 | 360 |
| SS-25 | 288 | 360 |
| SS-27 (silo)4 | — | 20 |
| SS-27 (road)4 | — | 0 |
| Total | 6,612 | 3,540 |
| SLBMs | ||
| SS-N-6 | 192 | 0 |
| SS-N-8 | 280 | 48 |
| SS-N-17 | 12 | 0 |
| SS-N-18 | 672 | 576 |
| SS-N-20 | 1,200 | 1,200 |
| SS-N-23 | 448 | 448 |
| Total | 2,804 | 2,272 |
| Bombers | ||
| Bear (ALCM) | 672 | 528 |
| Bear (Non-ALCM) | 63 | 4 |
| Blackjack | 120 | 120 |
| Total | 855 | 652 |
| Total Warheads | 10,271 | 6,464 |
Strategic Forces on Non-Russian Territory1
| Belarus | Kazakhstan | Ukraine | |
| ICBMs | 0 | 0 | 260 (SS-24) |
| SLBMs | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bombers | 0 | 0 | 104 (Bear) 32 (Blackjack) |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 396 |
NOTES
1. Warhead attributions are based on START I counting rules. This results in bombers having fewer warheads attributed to them than they actually carry. Even though all nuclear warheads from Ukraine have been transported to Russia, they remain START-accountable until their associated delivery systems have been destroyed. [Back to Table 1 , 2 or 3]
2. Includes weapons in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine. [Back to Table]
3. Weapons in Russia only. [Back to Table]
4. Also known as the TOPOL-M or RS-12M Variant 2 ICBM. [Back to Table]
Sources: START I Memorandum of Understanding, September 1, 1990; START I Memorandum of Understanding, September 1, 2000; ACA.
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