ABSTRACT
Emphasizing precision-guided munitions and focusing on interdiction of Pact reinforcements, the efforts seek to redress many of the shortcomings of North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) conventional defense posture. NATO must address the question of how to fight on its own territory with the highest probability of success. By exploiting the advantages of the defense, the lethality of modern weapons and the vulnerabilities of the Soviet military posture, NATO could build a staunch conventional defense from four fighting elements: regular combat units, Area Combat Troops, support troops, and penetration forces. NATO’s forward defense, necessitated by political considerations and by the lack of strategic depth in Central Europe, leaves the defense vulnerable to massed breakthroughs. Machine guns, mortars, or artillery firing incendiary munitions could create spectacular detonations hardly conducive to improving the morale of supply convoy personnel or sustaining Soviet combat operations.
