ABSTRACT
A land battle on North Atlantic Treaty Organization northern flank would have to take place in a combat environment that differs greatly from that of central Europe, imposing its own conditions upon the deployment and employment of military forces. Warfare on the northern flank would take place in a totally different environment where weather, terrain, and logistic factors could have a significant impact on the outcome of hostilities. Soviet interests in and policy toward the Nordic countries are an extension of Soviet global policy and its philosophical outlook on present-day international relations. The security environment of the northern flank has changed considerably since the immediate postwar era. The most important change has been the tremendous increase in Soviet naval power through the 1960s and the 1970s. Since the advent of the ballistic missile-firing submarine, the North Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea have occupied a central position in the nuclear strategy of the some superpowers.
