Dr. Aaron Lerner, IMRA 1 November, 2020
Article III 7 (c) of the The New Start Treaty between the United States and Russia provides that “Heavy bombers of the same type shall cease to be subject to this Treaty or to the limitations thereof when the last heavy bomber equipped for nuclear armaments of that type is eliminated or converted, as appropriate, to a heavy bomber.”
PROTOCOL TO THE TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION ON MEASURES FOR THE FURTHER REDUCTION AND LIMITATION OF STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE ARMS
PART THREE – CONVERSION OR ELIMINATION PROCEDURES
Section V. 3 (a) and (b) describes the conversion procedure ” to render them incapable of employing nuclear armaments”
In 2015 The United States declared that they were going to render B-25H heavy bombers incapable of employing nuclear armaments by “removing the nuclear code enabling switch and interconnecting box, mounting a code enabling switch inhibitor and interconnecting box inhibitor plate.”
Thus, a B-21 Heavy Bomber made for Israel could be supplied with a code enabling switch inhibitor and interconnecting box inhibitor plate so that, a priori, the New Start Treaty does not apply to the platform .
(A copy of the relevant passages from the treaty appears below).
Arming Israel with the B21 and the GBU-57 bunker buster goes well beyond enabling Israel to address an Iranian nuclear threat with conventional arms,
The GBU-57 is a conventional weapon with the power of a tactical nuclear weapon.
No one in America wants to risk that the day comes that Israel finds itself with no choice but to use a tactical nuclear weapon to defend itself as such a move could start a catastrophic chain of events going far beyond Israel’s borders.
Thus, when put into this context, a B21 & GBU-57 supply contract for Israel should be welcomed by all members of Congress regardless of their attitude towards Israel.
NEW START TREATY
TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION ON MEASURES FOR THE FURTHER REDUCTION AND LIMITATION OF STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE ARMS
8. As of the date of signature of this Treaty:
…
(c) Existing types of heavy bombers are:
(i) for the United States of America, the B-52G, B-52H, B-IB, and B-2A;
TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION ON MEASURES FOR THE FURTHER REDUCTION AND LIMITATION OF STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE ARMS
…
Article III
…
7. For the purposes of this Treaty:
…
(c) Heavy bombers of the same type shall cease to be subject to this Treaty
or to the limitations thereof when the last heavy bomber equipped for
nuclear armaments of that type is eliminated or converted, as appropriate,
to a heavy bomber equipped for nonnuclear armaments in accordance with Part
Three of the Protocol to this Treaty.
…
PROTOCOL TO THE TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION ON MEASURES FOR THE FURTHER REDUCTION AND LIMITATION OF STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE ARMS
PART THREE – CONVERSION OR ELIMINATION PROCEDURES
Section V. Procedures for Conversion or Elimination of Heavy Bombers
…
3. The conversion process for a heavy bomber equipped for nuclear armaments to a heavy bomber equipped for non-nuclear armaments shall be carried out using any of the procedures provided for in this paragraph:
(a) All weapons bays and all external attachments for pylons shall be modified so as to render them incapable of employing nuclear armaments;
(b) All internal and external launcher assemblies shall be modified so as o render them incapable of employing nuclear armaments; or
(c) Other procedures that are developed by the Party carrying out the conversion.
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IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis
Since 1992 providing news and analysis on the Middle East with a focus on Arab-Israeli relations
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