Accession Number:

ADA191745

Title:

NATO Acquisition Strategy: A Way to Improve Readiness and Sustainability,

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIV WASHINGTON DC MOBILIZATION CONCEPTS DEVELOPMENT CENTER

Personal Author(s):

• Fabrie, Robert

Report Date:

1988-01-01

Pagination or Media Count:

13.0

Abstract:

In the late 1970s defense chiefs of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO became troubled by the shifting balance in conventional defense capabilities. While the Warsaw Pact has held a quantitative advantage in conventional forces, NATOs qualitative edge, coupled with a flexible response strategy of nuclear escalation, provided the Alliance with a credible deterrent against Warsaw Pact aggression. Strong conventional forces above those needed to conduct a brief forward defense were considered both unnecessary and politically not affordable. Developments in Warsaw Pact strategy and conventional defense capabilities crystallized the need to strengthen the conventional component of NATOs military deterrence. The continuing Warsaw Pact military buildup in both numbers and quality of conventional and nuclear weapons, matched by NATOs failure to make sufficient responsive investments, had put the Alliances strategy of deterrence and flexible response in jeopardy. More important, a sustained conventional attack without the use of nuclear weapons was becoming a major element in Soviet strategy. Keywords Deficient NATO ammunition stocks.

Descriptors:

• *ACQUISITION
• *MILITARY PROCUREMENT
• AMMUNITION
• ATTACK
• CONVENTIONAL WARFARE
• DEFENSE SYSTEMS
• DETERRENCE
• FAILURE
• FORWARD AREAS
• MILITARY STRATEGY
• NATO
• NUCLEAR WEAPONS
• RESPONSE
• STRATEGY
• USSR
• WARSAW PACT COUNTRIES
• MILITARY EQUIPMENT
• MATERIEL
• OPERATIONAL READINESS

Subject Categories:

• Logistics, Military Facilities and Supplies

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE