ABM Treaty

1. The popular name for part of the 1972 Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) between the United States and the former Soviet Union; it restricts the number and locations of antiballistic missiles (ABM) that each nation can deploy. President George W. Bush has announced his intention to abandon the treaty so that the United States can deploy an ABM system, parts of which would be space-based. (See Star Wars.)

Example Sentences

But in 2002 the U.S. withdrew from the ABM Treaty and began to build a missile defense system, destabilizing this uneasy balance and sparking a new arms race.

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The United States backed out of the ABM treaty in 2002.

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The ABM treaty was rejected by the George W. Bush administration as limiting needed U.S. defenses against long-range missiles.

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Putting aside the technical complexities of building defenses against hypersonic weapons, the American decision to withdraw from the ABM Treaty and develop missile-defense systems influenced Russia’s decision to develop hypersonic weapons capable of penetrating such defenses.

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When George W. Bush ran for president in 2000, he vowed to turn it into a reality, and soon after he won the election, he formally abrogated the ABM Treaty to make it so.

Read more on Slate