A START I Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is produced at the beginning
and middle of each year, and is declassified three months after the initial
data exchange. Under the terms of the START I treaty the main unit of account
is the launcher: the missile silo, mobile launcher, or bomber. Even after
a missile is removed from the silo, that silo still counts as a launcher
for the type of missile for which it was designed, and is included in the
MOU data. For START I purposes both the missile and the warheads it carried
will continue to be counted until the silo is destroyed, the destroyed
silo has been inspected, and a 90 day period has elapsed.
Under START I accounting rules, heavy bombers with ALCMs are counted against
the treaty limit as an "average" number of warheads. All Soviet heavy bombers
are assigned eight warheads, although someTu-95MS can carry 16 ALCMs and
all Tu-160 can carry 12 ALCMs. (U.S. heavy bombers are assigned ten warheads,
although some B-52 and all B-1B heavy bombers can carry more than that
amount). All heavy bombers with gravity bombs and SRAMS count as one warhead
regardless of the actual number of weapons. These rules of account were
changed in the still-unratified START II Treaty, which established "real"
account.
Furthermore, even though some Russian bombers can carry up to 16 ALCMs,
under START I counting rules they are counted as only being capable of
carrying a maximum of 8 ALCMs.
Page last updated 10 February 1999
Comments or questions? E-mail Nikolai Sokov: nsokovATmiis.edu.
To return to the main
Nuclear Weapons entry, see the 