Russia's Tactical Nuclear Weapons
Part I: Background and Policy Issues

I-0.0 Introduction to Part I

Since the 1970s, the United States and the Soviet Union, and now the United States and Russia, have negotiated and implemented several nuclear arms control agreements. These agreements have limited, reduced, and even eliminated categories of nuclear weapons spanning categories of intermediate range to strategic forces. By most accounts, these treaties have achieved successes in improving strategic stability and enhancing national and international security.

The one category of nuclear forces that remains uncovered by formal arms control measures is tactical weapons. When experts use the term
"tactical" to describe a category of nuclear forces, most readers intuitively understand the reference.

However, while the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and
the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) explicitly define the types of weapon systems covered by those agreements, a working definition of tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs) has proven elusive.

A working definition is explored in more detail below. The simplest definition is to use "tactical" to describe all sub-strategic forces not covered by the INF Treaty.


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