Inactive Strategic Treaties
COMMON UNDERSTANDINGS RELATED TO THE FIRST AGREED STATEMENT OF SEPTEMBER 26, 1997, RELATING TO THE TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS ON THE LIMITATION OF ANTI-BALLISTIC MISSILE SYSTEMS OF MAY 26, 1972
I. The term "interceptor missile," as used in the First Agreed Statement of September 26, 1997, shall refer to any missile subject to the provisions of paragraph (a) of Article VI of the Treaty if such a missile:
a) has been developed by a Party as a missile to counter ballistic missiles other than strategic ballistic missiles; or
b) has been declared by a Party as a missile to counter ballistic missiles other than strategic ballistic missiles; or
c) has been tested by a Party even once with the use of a ballistic target-missile. With respect to subparagraphs (a), (b), or ( c), such a missile shall be considered an interceptor missile in all its launches.
II. The provisions of paragraph 1 of the First Agreed Statement of September 26, 1997, do not supersede or amend any provision of the Agreed Statement of November 1, 1978, and do not alter the meaning of the term "tested in an ABM mode" as that term is used in the Treaty, including the Agreed Statement of November 1, 1978.
III. The Parties have agreed that, for the purposes of the First Agreed Statement of September 26, 1997, the velocity of an interceptor missile as well as the velocity of a ballistic target-missile shall be determined in an earth-centered coordinate system fixed in relation to the Earth.
IV. The Parties have agreed that, for the purposes of the First Agreed Statement of September 26, 1997, the velocity of space-based interceptor missiles shall be considered to exceed 3 km/sec.
These Common Understandings shall be considered an attachment to the First Agreed Statement of September 26, 1997, and shall constitute an integral part thereof.