A Tank-Free Zone for NATO's Central Region.

Abstract

This document examines the concept of a mutual tank-free zone for the European Central Region and tests its validity as a possible operational concept for NATO. The IT assesses the military implications of the concept and its usefulness as a mechanism of applying military means to achieve political ends. NATO leaders are looking for ways to strengthen deterrence and conventional defense at relatively low economic and political costs to their governments. The tank-free zone concept may be political costs to their governments. The tank-free zone concept may be recommended as a serious proposal for future arms control talks as a method to reconfigure and realign conventional force asymmetries. The discussion begins with a contemporary perspective of the current NATO defensive capability and orientation. The political demands of deterrence are compared with the military requirements for defense. These are contrasted against the essential requirements for strong defense as expressed by Clausewitz and U.S. Army doctrine to identify the weaknesses in the NATO approach. The capability of a tank-free zone to redress these deficiencies constitutes the analysis. Keywords: Antitank warfare; Maneuvers. (KR)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 07, 1988
Accession Number
ADA195565

Entities

People

  • Michael T. Wilson

Organizations

  • United States Army Command and General Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Anti-Tank Missiles
  • Arms Control
  • Central Europe
  • Combat Areas
  • Directed Energy Weapons
  • Germany
  • Governments
  • Guided Missiles
  • International Relations
  • National Security
  • Nato
  • Nato Forces
  • Treaties
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Munitions and Ordnance Engineering
  • Strategic Security Studies