ABSTRACT
The international security environment has changed dramatically over the past decade, for both the United States and Europe. This has meant profound changes for national security strategy and for military capabilities. Before 1990, strategy was based on the assumption that the principal tension was between an alliance of democracies, led by the United States, and the Soviet Union and its allies. For the military, this meant that both deterrence and victory on the battlefi eld would go to the side with the more capable land, air and sea forces, massed in formation, fi elding heavy weapons produced in substantial numbers by a strong defense industrial base. Though this confrontation never occurred in Europe, wars elsewhere, such as Vietnam, tended to be fought using that model.
