WMD 411 Chronology — 1985

Choose another year 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 1986 1985

Produced by the Monterey Institute's Center for Nonproliferation Studies

KEY: [B] Biological, [C] Chemical, [M] Missile, [N] Nuclear, [O] Organization [T] Terrorism

Feb 7 1985 [N] Argentina and Brazil agree to mutual inspections of each other's nuclear facilities. The inspections are the first in a series of high-level security assurances that help avert a nuclear arms race in South America.

Feb 12 1985 [N] Iraqi warplanes attack the Iranian nuclear power reactor under construction at Bushehr.

March 9 1985 [M] President Reagan promotes the new MX Peacekeeper missile to replace aging Minuteman ICBMs. According to his radio address, doing so would strengthen the American position at arms control negotiations with the Soviets.

March 11 1985 [N] Mikhail Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev declares economic reconstruction and nuclear arms reduction are high priority goals.

April 1985 [M] The United States detonates a 20 kiloton nuclear device in an underground test in Nevada. Results from this test are used to claim that progress has been made in a project to create a powerful laser from x-ray radiation from a nuclear explosion. This laser could theoretically be used in a national defense against ballistic missiles. The success of the test is later disputed.

May 12 1985 [N] The Israeli Defense Ministry admits obtaining 800 krytons from the United States without obtaining a special license. The Ministry maintains that the krytons are to be used in conventional and not nuclear weapons.

May 1985 [N] The people of Rongelap Island are forced to evacuate their atoll amid fears of dangerous levels of radiation from past nuclear tests. They relocate to Mejatto in the northwest of Kwajalein Atoll.

June 1985 [O, C, B] The Australia Group (AG) meets and sets up export controls on a core list of five chemical precursors used to produce weapons in the Iraq-Iran War.

July 10 1985 [N] French Secret Service agents detonate a bomb aboard the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior at port in Auckland, New Zealand, killing one crew member. The ship was preparing to sail for Murorua Atoll to protest French nuclear testing.

July 1985 [N] A U.S. television station reports that Pakistan has tested krytron electric triggers in conventional explosions, using U.S.-supplied krytons, or electronic switches. Krytron triggers can be used in the detonation of nuclear explosive devises.

Aug 6 1985 [N] The members of the South Pacific Forum open for signature the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty (the Treaty of Rarotonga).

Aug 6 1985 [N] To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, the Soviet Union declares a moratorium on nuclear testing.

Aug 24 1985 [C] In an attempt to destroy opium crops, Burma uses chemical weapons on rebel-controlled areas near the Thailand border. Thai Army and police officials begin to investigate the effects on humans, plants, and animals.

Aug 27-Sept 21 [N] The third NPT Review Conference is held in Geneva. Parties to the treaty now number 131. Although a majority of the parties praises the NPT as a success, some argue that horizontal proliferation, particularly in Israel and South Africa, is threatening the treaty’s objective of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.

Sept 6 1985 [M] A Titan rocket booster rigged to simulate a missile is destroyed by a Mid-Infrared Advanced Chemical Laser (MIRACL) in a test conducted under the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization.

Sept 30 1985 [O] At the UN General Assembly, Chinese Foreign Minister Wu Xuegian calls for all nations capable of manufacturing and producing chemical weapons to refrain from using them. He further pleads for an end to the testing, production, and transfer of chemical weapons.

Oct 7 1985 [N] West German Defense Secretary Lothar Ruehl says that the FRG would welcome an expansion of the French nuclear umbrella to include its territory. It would view this as complementing the protection offered by the United States and NATO, rather than serving as a substitute for it.

Oct 11 1985 [M] President Reagan adopts a “broad interpretation” of the 1972 ABM Treaty that would allow for research into space-based and mobile anti-missile systems. The new interpretation allows the president’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) plan to proceed.

Nov 8 1985 [O, C] U.S. Congress authorizes the Department of Defense (DOD) to dispose of U.S. chemical weapons stockpiles. Destruction is to be completed by September 30, 1994.

Nov 21 1985 [C, N] At the Geneva Summit, Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and U. S. President Ronald Reagan issue a joint statement on arms control, expressing a goal of 50 percent reduction in the nuclear weapons in the United States and the Soviet Union. The statement also underlines the necessity to move forward on developing an effective and verifiable chemical weapons ban and to begin discussions on preventing the proliferation of chemical weapons.

Nov 29 1985 [N] Argentina and Brazil sign the Joint Declaration of Foz de Iguassu on the peaceful purposes of their nuclear programs.

Dec 10 1985 [N] International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Dec 12 1985 [N] North Korea accedes to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Dec 12 1985 [O] The UN General Assembly (GA) calls upon all states to refrain from the use of chemical weapons pending formal completion of a comprehensive ban on CW. The GA refers to the 1925 Geneva Protocol as well as the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention urging the Conference on Disarmament to prioritize and achieve an accord on a chemical weapons convention.

1985 [C] Substantive work on weaponization of biological agents begins at Al-Muthanna in Iraq with the transfer of Dr. Rihab Taha from the University of Baghdad.

1985 [C] Iraq’s biological weapon facility, the Al-Hazen Institute, re-opens after having been closed since January 16, 1979.

1985 [O, C, B] Between 1985-89, the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) exports several shipments of pathogens and other biological agents to Iraq. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sends a shipment of West Nile Fever virus and more than 80 other biological agents to Iraq for research.

1985 [N] The government of Romania proposes studying the possibility of creating nuclear weapons. Romanian nuclear scientists master the technology of obtaining plutonium.

1985 [N] According to U.S. intelligence agencies, Pakistan develops the capability to enrich uranium to weapons grade. The U.S. Congress passes the Pressler Amendment conditioning U.S. military aid on certification that Pakistan does not possess a nuclear explosive device.

1985 [B] According to Soviet defector Ken Alibek, Mikhail Gorbachev authorizes a Five-Year Plan for 1985-1990, which establishes an ambitious biological weapons program. The plan, which includes the weaponization of smallpox and anthrax, receives over $1 billion in funding before 1990.

back to top

 

This material is produced independently for NTI by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2008 by MIIS.