Chapter 1 -- The Treaty and the Mission

Reductions

Two of the CFE Treaty's main objectives were to reduce the possibility of a surprise attack and to lower the probability of confrontation by reducing the total number of tanks, artillery, ACVs, attack helicopters, and combat aircraft the respective group of states could hold. To achieve these reductions, the treaty set specific schedules for reaching the final limits. As implementation unfolded, inspection teams monitored the pace and level of reduction efforts. Inspections became important benchmarks for measuring treaty compliance.

During the initial reduction phase, known by the term "first reduction year," each nation had to reduce 25 percent of its holdings that exceeded treaty limits at entry into force (EIF). The initial reduction phase began at the provisional EIF on July 17, 1992, and lasted for 16 months. It encompassed the 120-day baseline inspection period followed by the first reduction year. A second reduction year followed, during which an additional 35 percent of the excess equipment had to be reduced. Treaty states would reduce the remaining 40 percent of their excess equipment during a third and final reduction year. This schedule gave each group of states 40 months to reduce all their weapons in excess of the final treaty limits.

The treaty authorized converting tanks and ACVs to nonmilitary equipment.

Article VIII of the CFE Treaty specified the methods allowed to reduce TLE. Reduction methods varied by equipment category, although destruction and placement on static display were options common to all categories of TLE. Nations could also convert tanks and ACVs for nonmilitary purposes or use them as training targets. A reduction option for the Soviet MT-LB armored personnel carrier was modification that rendered the MT-LB incapable of transporting a squad of combat infantrymen. The only additional option authorized was to use the carriers as ground targets. Combat aircraft could also be modified for ground instructional use, and seven specific models of aircraft could be modified and reclassified as unarmed training aircraft. Helicopters, attack or multipurpose attack, could be modified for ground instruction purposes, and the multipurpose helicopters could also be modified and recategorized as support helicopters.

The Protocol on Reduction provided specific guidance on implementing the various methods of reduction listed in Article VIII. Authorized methods for destroying TLE included cutting, exploding, deforming, and smashing. The protocol also dictated the specific components to be destroyed for each category of equipment as well as the damage required to render a piece of TLE permanently ineffective as a military weapon. The protocol dictated the results, not the particular technology used to achieve them. How to accomplish a cut of a specific length in a specific location, for example, was an option of the state reducing the equipment. It was not necessary to destroy the entire weapon to achieve reduction. Unless specified in the reduction protocol as a component to be destroyed, some equipment, such as communication systems, could be salvaged and the debris scrapped.

For aircraft, the fuselage was the critical component for a successful reduction by destruction; any other component could be salvaged. The first of the two authorized destruction methods to reduce an aircraft on the ground was severing, which required technicians to cut the nose and tail sections off the fuselage. The other option, deformation, required technicians to compress the fuselage to reduce its height, length, or width by at least 30 percent. In either case inspectors would have specific criteria and tangible evidence of an aircraft reduction. Using aircraft as target drones was an additional authorized destruction procedure for aircraft. Authorized methods of helicopter destruction were severing, explosive demolition, and deformation. The fuselage and the transmission mounting area were the key components for a successful reduction, and specific damage criteria were outlined for each destruction method.

Destruction methods for tanks and armored combat vehicles included severing, demolition, and smashing. Also allowed were procedures to reduce tanks by deformation, including welding or severing components of gun systems in addition to deformation of the hull and turret. The critical components to be damaged were gun tubes, breech systems, trunnions and their mounts, hulls, turrets, and integral main armament.

Reducing artillery by destruction included severing, demolition, smashing, and deformation. Specific criteria of damage were stipulated for components critical to making the piece of equipment a weapon. Those components were the tube, breech system, cradle with trunnion and mounts, and rails; launcher tubes or rails and their bases; mortar tubes and base plates; and vehicle hull and turret for self-propelled artillery pieces.

The fuselage was the key component for an aircraft reduction, either by deformation or by severing, as shown on this MiG-21 "Fishbed."