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30. The gap between the NATO and Warsaw Fact positions remains
wide and little substantive progress has been achieved so far. But the
negotiations are taking place in a businesslike atmosphere and
the Government therefore believes that, given goodwill and
perseverance by both sides, an acceptable outcome can be achieved.
31. The British Government will continue to work for a successful
outcome to the negotiations and does not plan in advance of mutual and
balanced force reductions, to reduce the forces which we maintain
in the Federal Republic of Germany below the level agreed in
accordance with the Brussels Treaty.
US/USSR Bilateral Negotiations
32. The second phase of the bilateral Strategic Arms Limitation
Talks (SALT) began in November 1972. An agreement
in principle was reached by President Ford and General Secretary
Brezhnev in Vladivostok in November 1974 on an outline of
a new
agreement on strategic weapons. This provides
for the limitation of strategic land and sea-based missile
launchers and bombers to an equal aggregate level of 2,400 on each
side. The introduction of strategic bombers into the negotiations
is a notable innovation. The outline also sets a common ceiling
for each side of 1,320 missiles equipped with
Multiple Independently-targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs). A
new agreement on these lines would be a significant advance on the
Interim Strategic Arms Limitation Agreement of May 1972 (SALT I) in that
it would effectively establish a state of rough overall strategic equivalance.
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