NATO and the neutron bomb: necessity or extravagance

Technical Report · Fri Dec 04 00:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:7197492

Nell, P A

Considerable controversy and fierce political and military debate has surrounded the development and potential employment of tactical battlefield nuclear weapons. This paper seeks to trace the historical evolution of these weapons, with specific emphasis upon the enhanced radiation (ER) family of tactical nuclear arms. This approach is useful because so little is actually known about ER weapons as compared to their conventional-nuclear-weapons counterparts. Discussions address the capabilities and characteristics of nuclear and ER Weapons with an associated analysis of the Soviet-Warsaw Pact threat that currently faces NATO and western Europe. It was this specific threat that proved to be the driving force that initially prompted the US to develop a tactical ER nuclear capability. The paper also addresses the current array of US tactical nuclear weapons, with emphasis upon specific systems and NATO stockpile data. Finally, an analysis of employing this weapon is explored with respect to current Army nuclear weapons doctrine, systems capability, and enemy threat. This culminating discussion demonstrates that it has been, and continues to be, in our best interest to retain the present strategy option of preemptive use of enhanced radiation and tactical nuclear weapons should the NATO battlefield commander be faced with no other alternative to avoid defeat.

• Research Organization: Army Command and General Staff Coll., Fort Leavenworth, KS (USA). School of Advanced Military Studies
• OSTI ID: 7197492
• Report Number(s): AD-A-190837/5/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
ENHANCED RADIATION WEAPONS
HISTORICAL ASPECTS
NATO
MILITARY STRATEGY
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
STOCKPILES
USSR
WESTERN EUROPE
ASIA
EASTERN EUROPE
EUROPE
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
WEAPONS
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