Argentina and weapons of mass destruction

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Argentine Republic
ARG orthographic (+all claims).svg
Nuclear program start dateEarly 1980s (ended in 1983)
First nuclear weapon testNone
First thermonuclear weapon testNone
Last nuclear testNone
Largest yield testNone
Total testsNone
Peak stockpileNone
Current stockpileNone
Current strategic arsenalNone
Cumulative strategic arsenal in megatonnage None
Maximum missile rangeNone
NPT partyYes

Under a military dictatorship, Argentina began a nuclear weapons program in the early 1980s, but this was abolished when democracy was restored in 1983.

Contents

Missile systems

During the 1980s, the Alacrán (English: Scorpion) and Cóndor 1 (English: Condor) missiles were developed. [1] The Cóndor 2, with a range of around 1,000 kilometres, [2] was intended to be developed with assistance from Egypt and Ba'athist Iraq. However, the project was condemned by the United States and the Missile Technology Control Regime. [3] It was reportedly scrapped during the Menem administration under pressure from the United States government and due to a lack of funds in 1990. [3] [4]

Biological and chemical weapons

Argentina acceded to the Geneva Protocol on May 12, 1969 [5] and has been active in non-proliferation efforts, ratifying the Biological Weapons Convention in 1979 [6] and the Chemical Weapons Convention on October 2, 1995. [7]

In September 1991 Argentina, together with Brazil and Chile, signed the Mendoza Declaration, which commits signatories not to use, develop, produce, acquire, stock, or transfer—directly or indirectly—chemical or biological weapons. [8]

Nuclear weapons

Argentina conducted a nuclear weapon research program during the National Reorganization Process regime, in part because of a similar Brazilian program assisted by West Germany. [3] International concern over the possibility of an Argentine nuclear weapons program magnified after the Falklands War in 1982, when the U.S. intelligence community estimated that Argentina could build a nuclear bomb from its civilian nuclear program. [9] Government officials at the time confirmed, in November 1983, that research carried out at the Balseiro Institute's research reactor had yielded the capacity for weapons-grade uranium enrichment. [10] The program was abandoned, however, shortly after the return of democracy, on December 10, 1983. President Raúl Alfonsín placed the nuclear program back under civilian control. [3] The program was also abandoned because Argentina did not have bad relations with Brazil, and because Brazil was wealthier than Argentina and thus more advantaged in an arms race. [11]

After the Brazilian transition to democracy, Argentina and Brazil began cooperating on nuclear non-proliferation. [11] In 1991, the National Congresses of Argentina and Brazil ratified a bilateral inspection agreement that created the Brazilian-Argentine Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC) to verify both countries' pledges to use nuclear energy only for peaceful purposes. On February 10, 1995, Argentina acceded to the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapon state. Argentina continues to use nuclear power in non-military roles, and is noted as an exporter of civilian use nuclear technology.[ citation needed ]

In 2010, the government announced that it would start working in the creation of a nuclear submarine. [12] This type of submarine uses nuclear power for propulsion. The announcement was highly criticized by politicians from opposing parties. [13]

In accord with three presidential decrees of 1960, 1962 and 1963, Argentina supplied about 90 tons of unsafeguarded yellowcake (uranium oxide) to Israel to fuel the Dimona reactor, reportedly creating the fissile material for Israel's first nuclear weapons. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons</span> International treaty

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament and general and complete disarmament. Between 1965 and 1968, the treaty was negotiated by the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament, a United Nations-sponsored organization based in Geneva, Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear proliferation</span> Spread of nuclear weapons

Nuclear proliferation is the spread of nuclear weapons, fissionable material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations not recognized as "Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT. Proliferation has been opposed by many nations with and without nuclear weapons, as governments fear that more countries with nuclear weapons will increase the possibility of nuclear warfare, de-stabilize international or regional relations, or infringe upon the national sovereignty of nation states.

Arms control is a term for international restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation and usage of small arms, conventional weapons, and weapons of mass destruction. Historically, arms control may apply to melee weapons before the invention of firearm. Arms control is typically exercised through the use of diplomacy which seeks to impose such limitations upon consenting participants through international treaties and agreements, although it may also comprise efforts by a nation or group of nations to enforce limitations upon a non-consenting country.

The Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, usually called the Geneva Protocol, is a treaty prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons in international armed conflicts. It was signed at Geneva on 17 June 1925 and entered into force on 8 February 1928. It was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on 7 September 1929. The Geneva Protocol is a protocol to the Convention for the Supervision of the International Trade in Arms and Ammunition and in Implements of War signed on the same date, and followed the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weapon of mass destruction</span> Weapon that can kill many people or cause great damage

A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a biological, chemical, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great damage to artificial structures, natural structures, or the biosphere. The scope and usage of the term has evolved and been disputed, often signifying more politically than technically. Originally coined in reference to aerial bombing with chemical explosives during World War II, it has later come to refer to large-scale weaponry of warfare-related technologies, such as biological, chemical, radiological, or nuclear warfare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biological Weapons Convention</span> 1975 treaty that comprehensively bans biological weapons

The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), or Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), is a disarmament treaty that effectively bans biological and toxin weapons by prohibiting their development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use. The treaty's full name is the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conference on Disarmament</span> Multilateral disarmament forum

The Conference on Disarmament (CD) is a multilateral disarmament forum established by the international community to negotiate arms control and disarmament agreements based at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The Conference meets annually in three separate sessions in Geneva.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction</span> US initiative to reduce risk stemming from former USSR republics nuclear weapons

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Condor (Argentine missile)</span> Space research program

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Africa and weapons of mass destruction</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Cirincione</span>

Joseph Cirincione (, SIR-in-see-OWN-ee is a national security analyst and author. He served as the president of the Ploughshares Fund, a public grant-making foundation focused on nuclear nonproliferation and conflict resolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albania and weapons of mass destruction</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libya and weapons of mass destruction</span>

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The "Statement on Chemical and Biological Defense Policies and Programs" was a speech delivered on November 25, 1969, by U.S. President Richard Nixon. In the speech, Nixon announced the end of the U.S. offensive biological weapons program and reaffirmed a no-first-use policy for chemical weapons. The statement excluded toxins, herbicides and riot-control agents as they were not chemical and biological weapons, though herbicides and toxins were both later banned. The decision to ban biological weapons was influenced by a number of domestic and international issues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Security Council Resolution 984</span> United Nations resolution adopted in 1995

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kazakhstan and weapons of mass destruction</span>

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References

  1. Joseph Cirincione; Jon B. Wolfsthal; Miriam Rajkumar (December 2011). Deadly Arsenals: Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Threats. Carnegie Endowment. pp. 388–. ISBN   978-0-87003-288-2.
  2. Etel Solingen (9 February 2009). Nuclear Logics: Contrasting Paths in East Asia and the Middle East. Princeton University Press. pp. 230–. ISBN   978-1-4008-2802-9.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Cirincione, Joseph; Jon B. Wolfsthal; Miriam Rajkumar (2005). Deadly arsenals : nuclear, biological, and chemical threats (Second ed.). Washington, D.C. ISBN   978-0-87003-288-2. OCLC   823345765.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. Robert E. Dundervill, Jr.; Peter F. Gerity; Anthony K. Hyder; Lawrence H. Luessen (9 March 2013). Defense Conversion Strategies. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 200–. ISBN   978-94-017-1213-2.
  5. United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations (1974). Prohibition of Chemical and Biological Weapons: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, Ninety-third Congress, Second Session on Ex. J, 91-2 ... Ex. Q. 92-2 ... and S. Res. 48 ... December 10, 1974. U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 19–.
  6. Jozef Goldblat; Thomas Bernauer (1991). The Third Review of the Biological Weapons Convention: Issues and Proposals : UNIDIR/91/17. United Nations Publications. ISBN   978-92-9045-049-8.
  7. Arms Control and Disarmament Quarterly Review. Arms Control and Disarmament Research Unit, Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 1995.
  8. Jozef Goldblat (18 November 2002). Arms Control: The New Guide to Negotiations and Agreements with New CD-ROM Supplement. SAGE Publications. pp. 149–. ISBN   978-0-7619-4016-6.
  9. By JOHN J FIALKA And GERALD F SEIB Staff Reporters of THE WALL,STREET JOURNAL. "Argentina's Nuclear-Weapon Capability is Estimated to be Closer than Thought." Wall Street Journal (1923-), Apr 29, 1982, pp. 6.
  10. National Geographic. August 1986. p.243.
  11. 1 2 "3 the Varieties of Hedgers: India, Japan, West Germany, Brazil and Argentina, Sweden and Switzerland", Seeking the Bomb, Princeton University Press, pp. 53–126, 2020-12-31, doi:10.1515/9780691223063-005, ISBN   978-0-691-22306-3 , retrieved 2022-01-20
  12. Promete Garré que se construirá un submarino nuclear en el país (in Spanish)
  13. La oposición, entre las duras críticas y la ironía (in Spanish)
  14. "The Israel-Argentina Yellowcake Connection". National Security Archive. George Washington University. 25 June 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.

Sources