NATO Substrategic Nuclear Forces: The Case for Modernization and a New StrategyBased upon Reconstitution

摘要

The scheduled withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Central Europe by the end of1994 and the establishment of evolving democratic states among the former Warsaw Pact have necessitated a fundamental review of Allied substrategic nuclear forces deployment concepts, and strategy governing their possible use. Despite the fact that the U.S. Army is scheduled to become denuclearized in Europe in the mid-1990s, following the withdrawal of the Lance surface-to-surface missile system and the eventual decommissioning of artillery-fired atomic projectiles in theater, this issue has not received the attention it deserves, particularly in U.S. Army circles. The author argues that NATO needs to continue to have a modernized substrategic nuclear capability as part of the alliance's new crisis management strategy, which, in view of long-term European political conditions, would not need to be stationed in theater. This strategy would require, however, the recommencement of NATO wargaming exercises using substrategic nuclear scenarios, the development of the necessary infrastructure in Europe for nuclear weapons reception should the need arise and, most importantly, the holding of regular deployment exercises to avoid the perception of singularizing any one state and to obviate the appearance of escalation in a crisis.