Fortifications and underground nuclear defense shelters for NATO troops
Improvements in NATO's conventional, chemical, and nuclear defenses are clearly needed; but constraints on changing NATO's forces are severe. Better NATO defenses must be achieved at a low economic cost, without changing NATO strategy, without adding more active duty troops or TNW, and without threatening the Soviets. Simple forms of field fortifications would improve the defensive strength of NATO forces without violating these constraints. PGMs are extremely powerful weapons that are much more effective when their operators enjoy the protection fortifications offer. Because the mission of defending fortifications and firing PGMs is simple relative to fighting a mobile war with armored vehicles, greater reliance could be placed on cheaper and more numerous West European reserves and militia forces. A simple corrugated pipe shelter buried seven feet underground would protect men against TNW as large as 100 KT striking as close as 600 meters. Since underground shelters seal air-tight they provide protection from chemical and biological weapons. A fixed defense program would be very affordable, costing around $2 billion. In addition to being much less expensive, shelters and fortifications are also attractive because they do not suffer from problems of poor reliability associated with most new high technology weapons.
- Research Organization:
- Harvard Univ., Boston, MA (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 5947295
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
ARMS CONTROL
MILITARY PERSONNEL
SHELTERS
NATO
COST
UNDERGROUND
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
LEVELS
PERSONNEL
450202* - Explosions & Explosives- Nuclear- Weaponry- (-1989)
990100 - Management