Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty

Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty

Formal Title: TREATY ON THE LIMITATION OF ANTI-BALLISTIC MISSILE SYSTEMS

Summary:

The ABM Treaty is a 1972 bilateral agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union (later Russia), in which each country agrees to have only two ABM deployment areas, one to protect its capital and another to protect an ICBM launch area. At their 1974 Summit meeting, the United States and the Soviet Union signed a protocol that further restrained deployment of strategic defensive armaments, limiting each side to one ABM site only.

Quantitative and qualitative limits are also imposed on the ABM systems that may be deployed, and both Parties agreed to limit qualitative improvement of their ABM technology. Further, the treaty prohibits improving surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), along with their supporting radars, to the point where they could effectively be used against ICBMs and SLBMs.

On December 13, 2001, President Bush notified Russian President Vladimir Putin on the U.S. intention to withdrawal from the ABM Treaty. Citing the ABM Treaty hinders the U.S. government's capacity to protect the the Untied States from rouge states and terrorist missile attacks, the Bush administration pulled out of the ABM treaty in order to proceed with the missile defense system. [Jim Garamone, "Bush Announces ABM Treaty Withdrawal", Defense Link, 13 December 2001 available at www.defenselink.mil.]

For more in-depth information, please consult the Inventory of Nonproliferation Organizations and Regimes, which can be found on the CNS website at: http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/.

China and the ABM Treaty:

China is not a signatory to the ABM Treaty, a bilateral agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia. However, China is strongly opposed to the development of ballistic missile defense systems, and has criticized development of any such defenses that would violate the ABM Treaty and touch off a new arms race. Specifically, China is strongly opposed to any development or deployment of theater missile defense (TMD) systems in Asia, and has stated its opposition to any revision of the ABM Treaty to allow for more capable ballistic missile defense systems or for TMD deployments.

[TEXT OF ABM TREATY]

For more information on China and missile defense issues, see:

[CHINA'S ATTITUDE TOWARD MISSILE DEFENSE]

[CHRONOLOGY OF MISSILE DEFENSE-RELATED STATEMENTS AND DEVELOPMENTS]

[AN ANNOTATED CHRONOLOGY OF THEATER MISSILE DEFENSE IN NORTHEAST ASIA, 1990-PRESENT]