- Date:
- 1969 - 1979
- Participants:
- Soviet Union
- United States
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
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What were the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)?
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) were a series of negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union aimed at limiting the production of strategic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. SALT I and SALT II, the first agreements, were signed in 1972 and 1979, respectively. Lyndon B. Johnson initially proposed these strategic arms limitation talks in 1967, and both superpowers agreed to them in the summer of 1968, leading to the start of full-scale negotiations in November 1969.
The most significant agreements resulting from SALT I were the Treaty on Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Systems and the Interim Agreement and Protocol on Limitation of Strategic Offensive Weapons. Richard M. Nixon, representing the United States, and Leonid Brezhnev, representing the Soviet Communist Party, signed both on May 26, 1972, during a summit in Moscow.
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Which countries took part in the SALT negotiations?
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) involved negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). These talks aimed to limit the production of strategic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. SALT I and SALT II, the resulting agreements, were signed in 1972 and 1979, respectively.
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Why were the SALT talks important during the Cold War?
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) were crucial U.S.-Soviet negotiations aimed at limiting nuclear weapons production. Beginning in 1969, SALT led to agreements like the 1972 ABM Treaty, restricting anti-ballistic missiles, and the Interim Agreement, freezing ICBM and SLBM levels. SALT II, signed in 1979, set limits on strategic launchers and MIRVs.
SALT I's ABM treaty limited each side to two ABM deployment areas, each with 100 interceptor missiles. These limitations prevented either party from defending more than a small fraction of its entire territory and thus kept both sides subject to the deterrent effect of the other’s strategic forces.
These talks were essential to détente, easing Cold War tensions, and fostering cooperation. Though SALT II faced setbacks, both sides still observed its arms limits. SALT helped stabilize mutual deterrence by permitting the Soviets to achieve parity.
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What kinds of weapons did SALT aim to limit or control?
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) aimed to curtail the manufacture of strategic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. SALT I agreements, signed in 1972, included the Treaty on Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Systems, which limited each side to one ABM deployment area and 100 interceptor missiles. The Interim Agreement froze the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) at existing levels for five years.
SALT II, negotiated from 1972 to 1979, set limits on strategic launchers, including missiles with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs). It also limited the number of MIRVed ICBMs, MIRVed SLBMs, heavy bombers, and the total number of strategic launchers, with an overall limit of about 2,400 of all such weapons systems for each side.
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What agreements came out of the SALT negotiations?
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) were a series of negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union aimed at limiting the production of strategic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
SALT I, signed in 1972, resulted in the Treaty on Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Systems, which limited each side to two ABM deployment areas with 100 interceptor missiles each. It also froze the number of ICBMs and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) at existing levels for five years through the Interim Agreement and Protocol on Limitation of Strategic Offensive Weapons.
SALT II, signed in 1979 but never ratified by the U.S. Senate, set limits on the number of strategic launchers, including missiles with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), with the goal of postponing the point at which land-based ICBM systems would become vulnerable to attack. It set an overall limit of about 2,400 of all such weapons systems for each side.
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How did the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks influence later arms control efforts?
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) significantly influenced later arms control efforts by establishing a framework for negotiations and agreements between the United States and the Soviet Union. SALT I, which included the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and the Interim Agreement, aimed to limit strategic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. These agreements paved the way for future discussions, such as the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START), which focused on reducing nuclear arsenals. The SALT talks introduced concepts like parity and mutual deterrence, which shaped subsequent arms control strategies. Although SALT II was never ratified, both sides voluntarily observed its limits, demonstrating its lasting impact on arms control.
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Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union that were aimed at curtailing the manufacture of strategic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. The first agreements, known as SALT I and SALT II, were signed by the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1972 and 1979, respectively, and were intended to restrain the arms race in strategic (long-range or intercontinental) ballistic missiles armed with nuclear weapons. First suggested by U.S. Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967, strategic arms limitation talks were agreed on by the two superpowers in the summer of 1968, and full-scale negotiations began in November 1969.
Of the resulting complex of agreements (SALT I), the most important were the Treaty on Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Systems and the Interim Agreement and Protocol on Limitation of Strategic Offensive Weapons. Both were signed by Pres. Richard M. Nixon for the United States and Leonid Brezhnev, general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, for the U.S.S.R. on May 26, 1972, at a summit meeting in Moscow.
The ABM treaty regulated antiballistic missiles that could theoretically be used to destroy incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) launched by the other superpower. The treaty limited each side to only one ABM deployment area (i.e., missile-launching site) and 100 interceptor missiles. These limitations prevented either party from defending more than a small fraction of its entire territory, and thus kept both sides subject to the deterrent effect of the other’s strategic forces. The ABM treaty was ratified by the U.S. Senate on August 3, 1972. The Interim Agreement froze each side’s number of ICBMs and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) at current levels for five years, pending negotiation of a more detailed SALT II. As an executive agreement, it did not require U.S. Senate ratification, but it was approved by Congress in a joint resolution.
The SALT II negotiations opened late in 1972 and continued for seven years. A basic problem in these negotiations was the asymmetry between the strategic forces of the two countries, the U.S.S.R. having concentrated on missiles with large warheads while the United States had developed smaller missiles of greater accuracy. Questions also arose as to new technologies under development, matters of definition, and methods of verification.
As finally negotiated, the SALT II treaty set limits on the number of strategic launchers (i.e., missiles that can be equipped with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles [MIRVs]), with the object of deferring the time when both sides’ land-based ICBM systems would become vulnerable to attack from such missiles. Limits were put on the number of MIRVed ICBMs, MIRVed SLBMs, heavy (i.e., long-range) bombers, and the total number of strategic launchers. The treaty set an overall limit of about 2,400 of all such weapons systems for each side. The SALT II treaty was signed by Pres. Jimmy Carter and Brezhnev in Vienna on June 18, 1979, and was submitted to the U.S. Senate for ratification shortly thereafter. But renewed tensions between the superpowers prompted Carter to remove the treaty from Senate consideration in January 1980, after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The United States and the Soviet Union voluntarily observed the arms limits agreed upon in SALT II in subsequent years, however. Meanwhile, the renewed negotiations that opened between the two superpowers in Geneva in 1982 took the name of Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START).