The bulldozers
will be used to backfill dismantled ICBM silos and restore the environment
in accordance with START I. Future shipments will include power tools
such as drills, saws, and plasma cutters that will be used to dismantle
the ICBM silos and salvage wire and steel.
Under an August
1993 agreement signed by the DoD and the Committee for Defense Industries
of the Russian Federation, the United States is providing up to $130
million in assistance to help Russia meet or accelerate its efforts
to meet START I Treaty limitations on strategic nuclear weaponry. American
and Russian experts developed specific requirements for equipment that
would aid the Russians in this historic work. The first contracts for
the equipment were awarded in March 1994, and the delivery of the bulldozers
is the result of those contracts. Thus far, the DoD has ordered nearly
$70 million worth of equipment to support the Russian strategic offensive
arms elimination efforts. Additional shipments under this agreement
will include equipment to accelerate heavy bomber and submarine ballistic
missile launcher elimination.
This equipment
is being funded under the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program,
which is managed and implemented by DoD. The CTR program has
evolved from legislation enacted in 1991 for the safety, security and
dismantlement of nuclear weapons in the former Soviet Union. This legislation
was proposed by Senators Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar. The United States
has already signed agreements to provide $898 million to assist Belarus,
Kazakstan, Russia and Ukraine in the destruction of nuclear, biological
and chemical weapons; transportation, storage and safeguarding of these
weapons in connection with their destruction; and the establishment
of verifiable safeguards against weapons proliferation. The funds may
also be used to assist in establishing industrial partnerships to convert
defense industry to civilian production; and to expand defense and military
contacts between the United States and the newly independent states
of the former Soviet Union.
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