ABSTRACT
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) defensive purpose imposes dual goals on the Alliance—to defend successfully if war occurs, but preferably to prevent war from breaking out in the first place. There are strategic and operational dilemmas as well, involving the use of both ground and air forces. The basic issue of strategic use of tactical air power is how to allocate it among competing needs for close support, interdiction and air superiority. NATO's military strategy has evolved in response to changes in weapons and the force balance and has been limited by geographic and political realities. NATO's nominally agreed upon operational doctrine, dubbed "active defense" and reflected in its manual ATP-35, is something of a compromise. NATO tactics are varied because local commanders are free to adopt whatever tactics, including positional defense, they think would best enable them to acomplish their missions. Political reality requires accepting the strategic defensive and initially foregoing the strategic and probably the operational initiative.
