Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, also known as the ABM Treaty or ABMT, was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union on the limitation of the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems used in defending areas against ballistic missile-delivered nuclear weapons. It was intended to reduce pressures to build more nuclear weapons to maintain deterrence.[1] Under the terms of the treaty, each party was limited to two ABM complexes, each of which was to be limited to 100 anti-ballistic missiles.[2]: 115
Type
Bilateral treaty
26 May 1972
Signed in 1972, it was in force for the next 30 years.[3] In 1997, five years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, four former Soviet republics agreed with the United States to succeed the USSR's role in the treaty. Citing risks of nuclear blackmail, the United States withdrew from the treaty in June 2002, leading to its termination.
Theater Missile Defense negotiations[edit]
The ABM Treaty prohibited "National Missile Defense" (NMD), but some interpreted it to allow more limited systems called "Theater Missile Defense" (TMD).[16] This is because Article II of the treaty defined "ABM Systems" as those that "counter strategic missiles", which are typically defined as those with "intercontinental capability".[16] Thus, TMD supporters argued, the treaty did not prohibit systems that defended against the countering of theatre ballistic missiles. The US had already developed and used such systems, including the Patriot Missile during the Gulf War.[16]
The problem arose as TMD systems could also potentially be capable of countering strategic ballistic missiles, not just theatre ballistic missiles.[16] The Clinton administration began negotiations with the Russians in 1993 to make amendments to the treaty. After much discussion, Presidents Clinton and Boris Yeltsin signed addendum to the treaty on September 9, 1997. According to these new agreements, the treaty permitted missile defense systems to have a velocity up to 5 km/s as long as it had not been tested against targets traveling faster than 5 km/s.[17]
The 1997 agreement were eventually ratified by the Russian parliament on May 4, 2000 (along with START II treaty).[17] However, it was opposed in the U.S. Senate by some Republican senators led by Jesse Helms.[17] As a result, Clinton never submitted the agreement to Congress, fearing that Helms would stall their ratification or defeat it outright.[17]