Supporting Paper: Prospective Tasks and Capabilities Required for NATO’s Conventional Forces

The definition of the tasks and requirements for NATO’s conventional forces is contingent upon Warsaw Pact capabilities and options and also upon NATO strategy. Criteria for sufficiency vary as a function of the role attributed to conventional defense within the overall strategic concept. 1 Those who favor a change of this concept because they regard a full-fledged conventional option as a prerequisite for credible deterrence need to apply a different yardstick. In order to prevail in a conventional war NATO might even have to give up its concept of Forward Defense and prepare for a protracted “defense in depth” on a continental and even global scale. In addition, NATO might require forces and doctrine for strategic counter-offensive operations into Eastern Europe to enforce war termination under conditions acceptable to the Western Alliance. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.