Accession Number:

ADA247135

Title:

NATO's Substrategic Nuclear Forces and Strategy: Where do we go from here?

Descriptive Note:

Final rept.

Corporate Author:

ARMY WAR COLL STRATEGIC STUDIES INST CARLISLE BARRACKS PA

Personal Author(s):

• Young, Thomas-Durell

Report Date:

1992-01-13

Pagination or Media Count:

26.0

Abstract:

One of the key implications of the fundamental changes currently underway in European security affairs has been the diminished importance of short-range nuclear forces SNF to NATO security requirements. The disintegration of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact, and the scheduled withdrawal of the Soviet Western Group of Forces from eastern Germany by the end of 1994, combine to make the continued role of nuclear weapons in NATO strategy ambiguous. President Bushs September 27, 1991, initiative to remove unilaterally all U.S.-ground-launched SNF will leave the alliance with an on- call substrategic nuclear force limited to gravity bombs carried by dual-capable aircraft. The author of this monograph argues that the possibility of nuclear proliferation resulting from the disintegration of the Soviet Union and possible future risks from the south make it an opportune time for the alliance to contemplate future nuclear strategy and force options.

Descriptors:

• *NUCLEAR WEAPONS
• *NATO
• WEAPONS
• REQUIREMENTS
• STRATEGY
• TIME
• BOMBS
• DISINTEGRATION
• GERMANY
• SECURITY
• AIRCRAFT
• USSR
• NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION

Subject Categories:

• Military Forces and Organizations
• Military Operations, Strategy and Tactics
• Nuclear Weapons

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE