ABSTRACT
The United States and its Allies traditionally have relied on the technological superiority of their weapons to preserve a credible counterforce to the quantitative superiority of the Warsaw Pact. But that technical superiority is eroding as the Soviet Union and its Allies introduce more and more sophisticated weaponry, weapons that all too often are manufactured with the direct help of Western technology. This chapter describes the Soviet program to acquire US and Western technology, the acquisition mechanisms used, the spectrum of Western acquisitions that have contributed to Soviet military might, the projected Soviet priority needs for Western technology, and the problems of effectively stemming the transfer of Western technology that could someday find application in weapons used to threaten the West. Recognition of the crucial role of Western technology in the development and production of Soviet weapon systems and related military equipment is not unique.
