NATO Acquisition Strategy: A Way to Improve Readiness and Sustainability,
Abstract
In the late 1970's defense chiefs of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) became troubled by the shifting balance in conventional defense capabilities. While the Warsaw Pact has held a quantitative advantage in conventional forces, NATO's qualitative edge, coupled with a flexible response strategy of nuclear escalation, provided the Alliance with a credible deterrent against Warsaw Pact aggression. Strong conventional forces above those needed to conduct a brief forward defense were considered both unnecessary and politically not affordable. Developments in Warsaw Pact strategy and conventional defense capabilities crystallized the need to strengthen the conventional component of NATO's military deterrence. The continuing Warsaw Pact military buildup in both numbers and quality of conventional and nuclear weapons, matched by NATO's failure to make sufficient responsive investments, had put the Alliance's strategy of deterrence and flexible response in jeopardy. More important, a sustained conventional attack without the use of nuclear weapons was becoming a major element in Soviet strategy. Keywords: Deficient NATO ammunition stocks.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA191745
Entities
People
- Robert Fabrie
Organizations
- National Defense University