multiple warhead missile

Among the proposals under review are a new ceiling on the number of multiple warhead missiles deployed in silos.

The accord would also outlaw land-based multiple warhead missiles, which are particularly dangerous because they are considered the most tempting targets in a nuclear crisis.

A ban on multiple warhead missiles should be considered in Start II, but should not be injected into the current talks.

Stopping China from conducting nuclear tests, he said, would prevent Beijing from fielding a new generation of mobile, multiple warhead missiles.

SS-30 Multiple Warhead Missiles.

The Strategic Arms Reduction Talks treaty between the former Cold War enemies would eliminate all land-based multiple warhead missiles and slash warheads by two-thirds.

Control Possible, but not Launch "The Kazakhs could take full control of the SS-18 silos," he said, referring to the large multiple warhead missiles based in Kazakhstan.

In addition to quietly walking away from Start II's ban on land-based multiple warhead missiles, the Bush administration says there is no need for formal treaties on offensive nuclear arms.

On Friday, Mr. Helms said on the Senate floor that Moscow had exceeded the limit of 1,200 multiple warhead missiles by sending out a Typhoon submarine for sea trials.

While banning mobile missiles might make it easier to verify an agreement, it could force the Soviet Union to rely more on multiple warhead missiles that are kept in stationary concrete silos.

Mr. Karpov said the number of Soviet land missiles with multiple warheads did not exceed the 820 limit and that Moscow had fewer than the permissible overall level of 1,200 multiple warhead missiles.

Under this approach, a ban could be set on mobile multiple warhead missiles while a separate ceiling could also be set on multiple warheads missiles that are based in silos.

Some Administration officials argue that mobile multiple warhead missiles should be banned because that would ease verification of a strategic arms pact and guard against the risk that Moscow could quickly expand its force beyond permitted limits in a crisis.

The Russians have been concerned that the United States would be at an advantage if land-based weapons were eliminated because the United States equips Trident submarines with multiple warhead missiles, making them mobile and therefore "survivable."

On June 16 in Washington, President Bush and the Russian President, Boris N. Yeltsin, initialled an arms control agreement that would, among other things, eliminate all of Russia's most powerful SS-18 multiple warhead missiles.

That agreement, signed by Presidents Boris Yeltsin and George Bush in January 1993, would cut the number of permitted Russian warheads by half and completely eliminate land-based multiple warhead missiles, the cold war's most dangerous weapon.

Several prominent Senators have said that Congress would not support the Administration's request for both a truck-mounted, single-warhead Midgetman missile system and a rail-mounted MX multiple warhead missile system, and have been urging the White House to pursue a ban on mobile MIRV's with Moscow.