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Show S H.iiTop Times NEWS Nov. 8, 1991 Hilltop Times Nov. 8, 1991 9 START INSPECTABLE BOUNDARY "Ti- p- 1 (t.i:iu) 1v Soviet presence L At left, Maj. Gen. Robert Parker, director, Inspection Agency, steps off the Starlifter and is welcomed to Hill AFB 1 On-Sit- e C-14- r V) i -- r ' . r ' - . T ... S. k 1. 5 v Thompson, Jr., commander, Ogden Air Logistics Center, and Brig. 'Gen. Clark Griffith, vice com mander. Gen. Lt. Vladimir Medvedev -- J j f " ' V . ' in t - . ; , ; .' 1 . Sn- - ' , A Vl fir- r t it ' ( X .yy - j ' S I 4. lip :.' - f Sign of the times t , t V 'J f f - ! V V V i . v . ; - T 'y : " ' i ap- t :.. ! the plane's Center phodoorway. to, Medvedev, flanked by interpreter Oleg Volkov, delivers a brief message to those gathered to greet the Soviet inspection team. The team came to Hill to gather technical information about the Peacekeeper and Minuteman missiles in connection pears f S'.'i v. " C i i pita?.! a ,i t- ' S- 1 by Maj. Gen. Dale W. t 1"' f Above, members of both the Soviet and U.S. inspection teams listen to comments made at the Hill AFB flightline upon arrival Monday. Top left, red and white signs designate some of the areas on base the Soviets visited, like this Minuteman maintenance facility, top right. 5 Years of work behind START I with START. U if r Li by Gary Hatch Hilltop Times editor n Super power relationships Though the Soviet team arrived under cold, gray skies Monday morning, this event, termed a technical exhibit, shows that relations between the two superpowers continue to warm and brighten, said a spokesman from the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. "We have never before had this kind of exhibit this early in the treaty process," the spokesman said. The radical changes in the Soviet Union in recent months don't affect the importance of the treaty and this exhibit, he said. "The administration wants START and the Conventional Forces treaties ratified soon. These treaties codify the agreements and put them in legally binding terms," the spokesman said. The Soviets view the exhibits as a new beginning. "Esteemed ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of our governments we are opening a new page in our common activities in the area of disarmament," said Gen. Lt. Vladimir Medvedev, Soviet team leader, as he spoke briefly through an interpreter just after the teams landed at Hill. "This is truly a very historic event," said Maj. Gen. Robert Parker, director of the Inspection will be the this think "I stage for the setting Agency. implementation of the strategic arms reduction talks." Both sides saluted the working relationship the teams have developed over three years during hundreds of inspections. Medvedev said the teams had and human contacts." Lt. Col. "good business-lik- e On-Sit- e by Ralph leue and Gregg Wixom of " 66 Esteemed ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of our governments we are opening a new page in our common activities in the area of disarmament. 99 s V. '''v'" Vjf I" fill 7 t I f I o 1 I - a JV: h. Hi V Gen. Lt. Vladimir Medvedev Soviet team leader James Leahy, U.S. team leader, said team members had grown accustomed to the courteous and cooperative attitude of the Soviets. "These personal experiences will endure longer than any treaty," Leahy said. START calls for each side to exhibit all types of weapon systems covered by the agreement cruise missiles, together with their heavy bombers; ICBMs; ballistic missiles. i nd Teams from the United States have viewed similar exhibits in the Soviet Union. Each country has one or two technical exhibits left. They are expected to take place within the next few months, the spokesman said. These early exhibits will build trust between the two countries, the spokesman said. That trust could prove invaluable during any stressful situations that could occur in the future, he said. "These exhibits reduce ambiguity. They let the other side know a little bit more about what we are doing," the spokesman said. "The less ambiguity there is, the less chance there is of either side accusing the other of violations because of a misunderstanding caused by the endless technical descriptions of controlled items," he said. The exhibit is not an opportunity for the Soviets to even catch a glimpse of the complicated inner workings of the missiles. The treaty never allows for that. "This is not a inspection," said an OS I A spokesman. sea-launch- punch-and-pro- d Ogden Another page of world history was written this week when Soviet inspectors looked at U.S. missile systems at Hill AFB during the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty technical exhibition. START is the latest chapter written over many decades leading to eventual arms control. Without some care it would be easy to overlook the 10 years t jy In Wielding measuring sticks and using plumb bobs, 15 Soviet inspectors carefully calibrated and recorded technical information on Peacekeeper and Minute-mamissiles at Hill AFB on Monday and Tuesday. The visit affords the Soviets, escorted by their American counterparts from Washington D.C., an opportunity to see the two weapon systems and take technical measurements and photographs to compare and verify descriptions given them by the United States through the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. The treaty was signed earlier this year, but has not yet been ratified by either country. Air Force Photo V if I i by Maj. Jerry Meredith ALC Office of Public Affairs Focus on strategic weapons Todd Peterson, a cameraman from KUTV Channel 2 in Salt Lake City, sets up his equipment to 1 videotape Peacekeeper missile stages in Bldg. 2404 during a media tour Nov. before the Soviet spection team arrived. The inspectors, who are accompanied at all times by U.S. team members, are here to take measurements and photographs of the controlled items. They put their findings into a report that both teams sign before they leave the site," the ACDA spokesman said. The two governments fully validate the results later. After the treaty is in force Once the treaty enters into force, the Soviet Union will have the right to maintain a permanent team of inspectors at Thiokol's Promontory facility, like the team that now inspects Hercules' Magna facility. Thiokol produces the first stage of the Peacekeeper missile. The treaty limits or makes accountable just the first stages of the two missile systems. "The treaty controls only the first stages because without them the missiles only make it to Detroit," said a START spokesman from Hill. The exhibit took place at Hill because the base is the primary repair facility for both the Minuteman and Peacekeeper missiles. The inspectors examined only out weapon system parts in four buildings and two treaty-specifie- d in- door areas at Hill. They all are located in the Missile and Munitions Storage Area. to The measuring process is surprisingly low-tec- h those unfamiliar with arms reduction treaty requirements. However, it is important because the primary method of identifying missiles controlled by the treaty is by size and shape, the spokesman said. "Once they have taken these careful measurements, they will be confident in the future that when they see a stage come off the assembly line at one of our plants, they will be able to measure it and say, for example, 'Yes, this is a Peacekeeper missile stage one,'" the spokesman said. "This is an opportunity for both sides to make tangible the descriptions that appear in the pages of the treaty and its supporting documents," he said. Those supporting documents dwarf the treaty itself. What the treaty does which was signed by Presidents The actual treaty, George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow on July 31, is about 20 pages long. Supporting documents fill an additional 290 pages, the spokesman said. Those pages contain protocols to follow and definitions, clarifications and descriptions of the controlled weapon systems. time-consumi- ng and frustrating work that went into negotiating the treaty. Peace never has been an easy proposition. It has taken a great deal of work on the part of many people over many years to free the world of the threat of war and the dangers of excessive armaments. It was 1981, 10 years ago, when President Ronald Reagan first decided to seek significant reductions in strategic forces rather than mere limitations on future growth. Several months later, in May 1982, the President formally outlined the U.S, proposal and announced that strategic arms reduction talks would open in Geneva the next month. The basic U.S. objective in these negotiations, he said, was to achieve a verifiable agreement that enhances stability, reduces the risk of war and achieves deep reductions in the strategic nuclear weapons of both sides. That first attempt at a START agreement ended when the two countries could not agree to terras, and in December 1983 the Soviets suspended talks by refusing to set a date for their resumption. Talks began anew in March 1985 under a broader umbrella of Nuclear and Space Talks. Those talks went through 133 rounds before producing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty signed by President Bush and President Gorbachev on July 31, 1991. The treaty will remain in force for 15 years and calls for an initial seven years of weapons reductions. The spokesman said he expects the treaty to be ratified in 1992, following approval of the Senate. START is the first treaty to actually reduce the numbers of strategic weapons, the spokesman said. Earlier treaties limited the growth of strategic armaments, but did not call for reducing the numbers of usable weapons. Although both team leaders mentioned Utah's beauty in their brief remarks, they both knew there would be little time for sightseeing. "The trip will be mostly business. The Soviets have a job to do and they'll come in and do it," said an OSIA spokesman before the visit. Most of the Soviet inspectors don't speak English well. However, at least two of the group are required by the terms of the agreement to speak English fluently. The United States and the Soviet Union agreed to deep cuts in their strategic offensive arms. Un- der the treaty, ballistic missile warheads are reduced to 6,000 on each side, and Soviet heavy ICBMs are reduced by half. But such a simple synopsis doesn't do justice to explain the difficult and delicate process that took place in between. Each side submitted four proposals for debate between March 1983 and November 1986. The Americans and Soviets also each submitted a draft treaty prior to reaching a final agreement. That count doesn't include the mountains of rough cuts that went into each proposal and draft. Perhaps the most noteworthy part of this process was the amount of personal attention that senior officials from both governments devoted to this historic agreement. Thinking back, many people may remember a number of meetings between the U.S. Secretary of State and the Soviet Foreign Minister. But how many realized that there were nearly 20 such meetings over a year period. For many years meetings between heads of state for the United States and Soviet Union were few and far between. Yet during START talks Presidents Reagan and Bush met President Gorbachev a total five-and-a-ha- -- lf of seven times. The technical exhibition is just one of many types of inspections agreed to under START. The treaty is expected to be ratified by both countries next year, and after it enters into force, history will be made again when the Soviet inspection team return to Hill to conduct baseline and other inspections. Editor's Hole: Maj. Meredith is an Individual Mobilization Augmentee assigned to the Ogden ALC Office of Public Affairs. Preparation for the visit required a small army. More than 100 military and civilian base employees helped plan and support the visit. Arrangements began three years ago. "That includes people who spent a few hours and people who have been dedicated to START full time," START workers from said one of the seven Hill. The effort was not lost on the visitors. "I would like, at this time, to thank General (Dale W.) Thompson (Jr. commander, Ogden Air Logistics Center) for all the great work done in the preparation for this exhibition," Parker said. Medvedev expressed appreciation for the "warm, welcome," and said the interest and cooperation of the people of Utah will provide a good basis for future work. Editor's note: As a security precaution, some of the sources in this story asked they not be identified by name. full-tim- e |