Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty

Overview

Potential Facility Impacts

Current Activities

Overview

Purpose and Background

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty [long title: Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Elimination of Their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles] sought to strengthen regional (i.e., European) security and strategic stability and reduce nuclear arms. It was the first major arms control agreement to establish a verification regime that included on-site inspections.

The Treaty mandated the complete elimination (and prohibited further production) of all U.S. and Soviet nuclear-armed, ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500-5,500 kilometers and their infrastructure within 3 years of entry into force (EIF). All shorter-range INF systems were to be destroyed within 18 months of EIF, while all longer-range systems were to be eliminated within 3 years of EIF. Relevant INF facilities became subject to inspection upon EIF.

Although the Treaty is of unlimited duration, the inspection regime at declared facilities ended on May 31, 2001. Before this date, Soviet/Russian inspectors continuously monitored a former Pershing II missile production facility in Magna, Utah. Russian inspection teams also periodically inspected two U.S. industrial facilities that produced launchers for Pershing II ballistic missiles and ground-launched cruise missiles. No further inspection activities are provided for under the Treaty.

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Potential Facility Impacts

Key Verification Measures

The States Parties to the Treaty provided initial and updated data declarations of treaty-limited items (TLI), deployment locations, and support facilities. The Parties were also required to provide notifications of movement of TLI between declared facilities. National technical means and on-site inspections were used to verify treaty compliance.

Due to the end of the inspection regime, no potential facility impacts remain.

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Current Activities

Recent Developments

All TLI were eliminated as of May 28, 1991, when the last SS-20 launch vehicle and its transfer vehicle were destroyed. In total, 846 U.S. INF missile systems and 1,846 former Soviet INF missile systems were destroyed.

December 8, 2007 marked the twentieth anniversary of the signing of the INF treaty. To commemorate this occasion, the United States and Russia released a joint statement expressing continued support for the Treaty and noted that participation in the INF helped to fulfill their Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) article VI obligation to pursue negotiations in good faith on nuclear disarmament.

The United States and Russia also expressed concern regarding the continued proliferation of intermediate- and shorter-range missiles. The two countries encouraged “all interested countries to discuss the possibility of imparting a global character” to the INF “through the renunciation of ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers,” using the INF as a model for further agreements between other states.

Inspection Status

Monitoring and quota inspections at both U.S. and Russian facilities ended May 31, 2001. The United States conducted 540 inspections; Russia conducted 311 inspections. A summary of inspections (listed by inspection type) conducted under the Treaty's inspection regime appears in the box below.

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