The Overlooked Dimensions of the Conventional Balance in Europe,

Abstract

Traditional views of the conventional military balance in the Central Region emphasize a comparison of the number of major weapon systems each side has in its inventory, or of the number of military personnel or formations. These traditional statements of the balance dramatically tend to favor the Warsaw Pact. In this paper, I want to address some of the 'overlooked dimensions' in the conventional military balance. These overlooked dimensions are (1) the reliability of allies, (2) the role of surprise, (3) the contribution of logistic support, and (4) the role of C3I and Electronic Warfare (EW). Of these four, the first two might be called scenario-related variables, while the last two are generally called 'force multipliers.' The effect each of these might have in wartime is uncertain and not easily factored into the balance analytically. In this paper, I shall give a brief indication of how one might attempt to do so, or what results are generally obtained when those attempts have been made. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1985
Accession Number
ADA159580

Entities

People

  • R. Shishko

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Traffic
  • Combat Simulations
  • Deployment
  • Doctrine
  • Eastern Europe
  • Electronic Warfare
  • Europe
  • Industrial Production
  • International Security
  • Military Personnel
  • Mobilization
  • Rear Areas
  • Reliability
  • Simulations
  • Students
  • Warfare
  • Weapon Systems

Readers

  • Psychometric Testing or Psychological Assessment.
  • Strategic Security Studies

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics