Accession Number:
ADA180010
Title:
The War Will Not Subside: The Pacific Theater in a NATO-Warsaw Pact War. Revision
Descriptive Note:
Final rept.
Corporate Author:
CENTER FOR NAVAL ANALYSES ALEXANDRIA VA NAVAL PLANNING MANPOWER AND LOGISTICS DIV
Personal Author(s):
Report Date:
1987-03-17
Pagination or Media Count:
48.0
Abstract:
This paper considers the role of the Pacific theater in a NATO-Warsaw Pact War. It argues that Pacific theater has been neglected in such a conflict because most war scenarios envision a struggle lasting no more than 30 to 60 days. As a result, the conflict is over too quickly in most scenarios for the interrelationships between the NATO and Pacific theaters to develop conceptually. However, in a long-war scenario, the Pacific theaters importance in the course and outcome of such a conflict becomes apparent. The military, industrial, and technological potential of the Pacific nations, especially China and Japan, combined with the U.S., constitute a reserve of strength capable of containing or reversing any Soviet success in a conventional conflict in Europe. This paper concludes that a current strategy or doctrine based on the refusal to repudiate the first use of nuclear weapons has lost much of its credibility as a deterrent, and b the tacit or explicit adoption of a long -war strategy to counter Soviet capabilities in a short war should be considered.
Descriptors:
Subject Categories:
- Military Operations, Strategy and Tactics