The new START treaty being debated in the U.S. Senate would reduce the number of nuclear warheads deployed by the United States and Russia and establish procedures to ensure both sides comply with the accord, Reuters reported. Following are the key provisions of the treaty: * Each side agrees to reduce its deployed nuclear warheads to no more than 1,550 within seven years. That is 30 percent lower than the 2002 Moscow Treaty and down nearly two-thirds from the 1991 START 1 treaty. * Each agrees to limit its intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, submarine ballistic missile launchers and heavy bombers to no more than 800, whether deployed or not. * Each side agrees to deploy no more than 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine ballistic missiles or heavy bombers. * Most of the text of the treaty is devoted to technical issues to assist with verification and compliance, such as: -- Establishing an agreed system for counting the nuclear arsenals of the two different forces to ensure they are roughly equivalent; -- Agreeing on procedures for removing nuclear weapons from service and whether they may be converted to conventional use; -- Setting out where strategic weapons may be located, when and how they may be inspected and what technical information must be exchanged between the two sides to assist in verification.
