Warfighting Options and the Strategic Nuclear Balance: the American Debate.

Abstract

The major assumptions behind strategic warfighting capabilities are that war with strategic weapons can be controlled; that such a war can be stopped short of extensive damage to the society of either belligerent; and, that a warfighting capable deterrent is the best deterrent to another's warfighting capable force. When either side's counterforce weapons stockpile exceeds that for 'warfighting,' and constitutes the bulk of a deterrer's strategic force, it should more properly be called a war winning posture. The latter capability has another assumption of its own: that a strategic nuclear war can be won.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1977
Accession Number
ADA049817

Entities

People

  • John F. Scott

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Counter WMD
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Civil Defense
  • Command And Control
  • Deterrence
  • Doctrine
  • Eastern Europe
  • Europe
  • Military Science
  • National Security
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Security
  • Strategic Weapons
  • United States
  • Ussr
  • War Colleges
  • Weapons
  • Western Europe

Readers

  • Strategic Security Studies