Unfavorable situation: NATO and the conventional balance
The view, long and widely held, that NATO conventional military forces are inferior to Warsaw Pact forces is one of the most important factors shaping postwar history. It influenced the size and nature of the American military commitment to Europe. It is at the heart of the extended deterrence strategy, in which the U.S. commitment to use nuclear weapons in the defense of Europe offsets the Warsaw Pact's perceived conventional superiority. The notion of Western inferiority runs through much of today's public debate on security policy-the INF Treaty, the future of nuclear and conventional arms control, U.S. and Allied defense programs, the burden-sharing debate, and so forth. The debates have spawned a new round of discussions on the nature of the conventional military balance in Europe and will affect U.S. and Western policies. The term balance conjures up the image of a scale, with the Warsaw Pacts military power placed on one side and NATO's on the other. This reflects the normal bean count approach to the military balance: Total number of tanks, artillery, combat aircraft, etc. is the surrogate for military power. The image of the scale conveys a deeper meaning, however: If the Warsaw Pact were military superior or the balance were unfavorable to NATO, NATO would, by implication, lose a military conflict in Central Europe fought with purely conventional weapons. The perception is the one that has shaped the broader Western policy debate.
- Research Organization:
- Rand Corp., Santa Monica, CA (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6831679
- Report Number(s):
- AD-A-220311/5/XAB; RAND/N--2842-FF/RC
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
AIRCRAFT
ARMS CONTROL
ASIA
EASTERN EUROPE
EUROPE
FOREIGN POLICY
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
MILITARY STRATEGY
NATIONAL SECURITY
NATO
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
POLITICAL ASPECTS
SECURITY
USA
USSR
WEAPONS
WESTERN EUROPE