Review of The Defense Monitor's Article Titled, "US-Soviet Military Facts".
Abstract
While The Defense Monitor article (Vol XI, No 6, 1982) has a collection of statements regarding relative military powers of the US and the Soviet Union and their allies it is not an up-to-date assessment of the many elements of US and Soviet military strengths and weaknesses on which to base important national defense policy decisions. This review is written as a note of caution on the assessment shortfalls which limit the value of The Defense Monitor article The Strategic Balance Strategic forces must be assessed in terms of the mission they are expected to perform. For the US, the mission has always been deterrence. Three decades ago the US nuclear superiority was unquestioned. Today we have parity with the Soviet Union. Tomorrow's balance is yet to be determined and will be based on our resolve to pursue a strategic force modernization program designed to develop and deploy systems which can survive the Soviet threat. Figure 1 is a comparison of NATO/USSR strategic capability in terms of delivery systems. As the chart reflects, the gap between NATO/USSR delivery capability continues to increase in favor of the Soviets.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1982
- Accession Number
- ADA365403