New START Treaty – UPSC Prelims

New START Treaty

  • The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) pact limits the number of deployed nuclear warheads, missiles and bombers.
  • The treaty limits the US and Russia to a maximum of 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers, well below Cold War caps.
  • The treaty was to expire in 2021. But it has been extended for five more years, i.e. till February 2026.
  • It was signed in 2010 by former US President Barack Obama and then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
  • The treaty had replaced the 1991 START I treaty which expired in 2009.
  • It is one of the key controls on superpower deployment of nuclear weapons.
  • Russia has agreed to extend this Treaty.
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