Who Will Stand the Nordic Guard? Determinants, Options, and Bilateral Canadian-US Responses to the Threat on NATO's North Flank
Abstract
As of November 1989, the government of Canada has deleted its commitment to deploy the Canadian Air-Sea Transportable (CAST) Brigade to reinforce the Norwegian Army in the event of a Soviet ground attack in the Arctic region in order to consolidate all Canadian ground forces committed to NATO in the defense of West Germany. Furthermore, this paper argues that the marginal benefits that the consolidation of Canadian commitments in West Germany are insufficient to justify the increased risk in the north, and will be further diminished in the decade of the 1990s because of arms control and political developments. The paper concludes by recommending that the US and Canada pursue a bilateral strategy regarding Norwegian reinforcement, consisting of coordinated plans to restructure Canadian Forces and US Army light infantry units into robust, rapidly deployable formations; provide for a pooling of strategic military airlift, in essence including Canadian units in US time- phased troop deployment plans; and re-designing NATO's military command structure in order to raise the north flank to its rightful strategic significance and to highlight the Canadian contribution.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 30, 1990
- Accession Number
- ADA224142
Entities
People
- Adolf Carlson
Organizations
- United States Army War College