NATO Military Policy: The Constraints Imposed by an Inappropriate Military Structure

Abstract

The crucial assumption underlying many of NATO's policy dilemmas -- MBFR, escalation, burden sharing, and the like -- is the absence of conventional parity with the Warsaw Pact forces. Conventional parity would provide NATO with new and attractive options. The paper argues that NATO's conventional inferiority has occurred because NATO's strategy, force posture, and operating practices do not mesh with each other, whereas the Warsaw Pact's do. Specifically, U.S. and NATO forces are not designed for the stated strategy, are structured on outdated assumptions, and use unnecessarily expensive operating practices. This explains the paradox that while NATO's population, GNP, military budget, and military manpower levels are considerably greater than Pact's, Pact enjoys undisputed conventional superiority.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 1972
Accession Number
AD0748998

Entities

People

  • Steven L. Canby

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Anti-Tank Weapons
  • Deployment
  • Deterrence
  • Europe
  • Force Structure
  • Management Engineering
  • Manpower
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Strategy
  • Nato
  • Nato Forces
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Operations Research
  • United States
  • Warfare
  • Weapons

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP).
  • Strategic Security Studies