jun 17, 1979 - The SALT II Agreement

Description:

The SALT II (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) Agreement was an arms control treaty signed between the Soviet Union and the United States in 1979, intending to restrict the nuclear arms race between the two leading powers during the Cold War. The SALT II negotiation built off of the SALT I from 1972, which focused primarily upon controlling the amount of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), meanwhile SALT II sought to address more specific categories of nuclear weapons systems. Negotiations for a second SALT agreement began towards the end of 1972. SALT II focused on limiting, and subsequently reducing the amount of Multiple Independently Targeted Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs) onto their ICBMs and SLBMs because SALT I failed to prevent each side from growing their forces through MIRVs.
The primary structure of the SALT II agreement was decided upon by Ford and Brezhnev at the November 1974 Vladivostok Summit. The basic framework included a limit on strategic nuclear vehicles (ICBMs and SLBMs) for each side, limits on MIRV systems, and limits on the deployment of new forms of strategic offensive arms. Though, the Vladivostok agreements could not resolve both nations two most prominent issues deriving from SALT I: the total number of warheads and strategic bombers in each nation’s arsenal. The Soviet Backfire Bomber made the first issue complex, U.S. negotiators believed it could reach the United States, but the Soviets refused to incorporate it into the SALT negotiations. The Soviets also attempted to limit the deployment of American Air-Launched Cruise Missiles (ALCMs) which was ultimately unsuccessful. Eventually, both nations agreed to use National Technical Means (NTM), the collection of electronic signals like telemetry and photo-reconnaissance satellites. On June 17, 1979, Presidents Carter and Brezhnev signed the SALT II Treaty in Vienna.

-- Macy Lawrence

Works Cited
Image: “National History Day Winner 2021 Operation Ivy Bells.” Naval Order, www.navalorder.org/national-history-day-winner-2021-operation-ivy-bells.

Office of the Historian. “Strategic Arms Limitations Talks/Treaty (SALT) I and II.” State.gov, 2019, history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/salt.

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