CTR Program Destroys 10 ICBMs

The U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction program last month destroyed 10 former Soviet ICBMs and transported three shipments of nuclear weapons by train to secure storage sites, according to U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) (see GSN, June 17).

The ICBMs eliminated by the Nunn-Lugar program were SS-25 Sickle missiles, which have a range of 6,500 miles and can be fired from mobile launchers.

Since its establishment in 1991 to secure and eliminate weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union, the Nunn-Lugar program has deactivated 7,292 strategic nuclear warheads and destroyed 708 ICBMs, 496 ICBM silos, 131 mobile ICBM launchers, 631 submarine-launched ballistic missiles, 456 SLBM launchers, 30 ballistic missile-capable submarines, 155 strategic bombers, 906 nuclear air-to-surface missiles and 194 nuclear test tunnels.

The initiative has also secured 394 nuclear weapon train shipments, increased security measures at 16 nuclear weapon storage facilities and built 15 biological agent monitoring stations.  It has also removed all nuclear weapons from Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, nations that once respectively held the world’s third, fourth and eighth largest nuclear arsenals.

By sponsoring the International Science and Technology Centers, the Nunn-Lugar program has helped to provide civilian opportunities for 58,000 former weapons scientists.  The International Proliferation Prevention Program has involved 14,000 former weapons personnel in 750 projects and established 580 technology-sector positions (U.S. Senator Richard Lugar release, July 16).

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