FAS | Nuke | Arms Control |||| Index | Search |



Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces [INF]

Provisions
The INF Treaty eliminated all nuclear-armed ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (about 300 to 3400 miles) and their infrastructure. The INF Treaty is the first nuclear arms control agreement to actually reduce nuclear arms, rather than establish ceilings that could not be exceeded. Altogether it resulted in the elimination by May 1991 of 846 longer-and shorter-range U.S. INF missile systems and 1846 Soviet INF missile systems, including the modernized U.S. Pershing II and Soviet SS-20 missiles.

Status
The INF Treaty was signed by President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev at a Washington Summit on December 8, 1987. On January 15, 1988, President Reagan signed National Security Directive 296 which instructed Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci to establish a new agency -- the On-Site Inspection Agency -- to implement the Treaty's unprecedented on-site inspection and escort responsibilities. Thirty days after the INF Treaty entered into force on June 1, 1988, OSIA began inspections of 130 Soviet INF sites in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union and the escort of Soviet inspection teams at 31 INF sites in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy and the United States. Continuous monitoring operations began in the Soviet Union and the U.S. in July 1988. By May 1991, all intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles, launchers, related support equipment and support structures were eliminated. Both sides have conducted hundreds of INF inspections since 1988. INF inspection activity will continue through June 2001.

Verification
Negotiated and concluded during the Cold War, the INF Treaty contains the most comprehensive verification regime ever achieved to that point. In addition to measures to enhance national technical means of verification, the Treaty contained pioneering on-site inspection provisions, including baseline data inspections, inspections of closed-out facilities, short-notice inspections of declared sites and inspections to observe eliminations of the missile systems. It also established the first ever continuous monitoring operations at the portal and perimeters of a former missile production facility in each country to confirm that production of prohibited missiles had ceased. The Treaty between the United States and Soviet Union on the Elimination of their Intermediate-range and Shorter-range Missiles (INF Treaty) was signed by President Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev at a Washington Summit on December 8, 1987. The INF Treaty eliminated all nuclear-armed ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers (about 300 to 3400 miles) and their infrastructure. The INF Treaty is the first nuclear arms control agreement to actually reduce nuclear arms, rather than establish ceilings that could not be exceeded. Altogether it resulted in the elimination by May 1991 of 846 longer-and shorter-range U.S. INF missile systems and 1846 Soviet INF missile systems, including the modernized U.S. Pershing II and Soviet SS-20 missiles. Negotiated and concluded during the Cold War, the INF Treaty contains the most comprehensive verification regime ever achieved to that point. In addition to measures to enhance national technical means of verification, the Treaty contained pioneering on-site inspection provisions, including baseline data inspections, inspections of closed-out facilities, short-notice inspections of declared sites and inspections to observe eliminations of the missile systems. It also established the first ever continuous monitoring operations at the portal and perimeters of a former missile production facility in each country to confirm that production of prohibited missiles had ceased.

Chronology
A chronological listing of major events and developoments.

Texts
Primary documents, including treaty text and associated memoranda, statements and other related material.

News
Chronological archive of news reports, commentary analysis and other related material.

Related Resources and Web Sites



FAS | Nuke | Arms Control |||| Index | Search |


http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/inf/

Maintained by Webmaster