European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 25, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Focus on a smaller faster multinational Force nato in the �?T90s editor s note nato is in the midst of the most sweeping review of military strategy in the history of the Alliance. Today s articles look at the shape of nato and soviet forces in the 1990s. By David Tarrant Brussels Bureau the impending unification of Germany and the diminishing soviet threat in Central Europe have blown the classic Fulda Gap scenario off the drawing boards. That scenario featured soviet and Warsaw pact troops massing an attack through Fulda West Germany the Point where the inter German Border is closest to major cities like Frankfurt and to the Rhine River. In a unified Germany Fulda will be just another City in the Middle of the country. With the crumbling of the Warsaw pact the nature of the future Battlefield in Europe has changed fundamentally. Military analysts say War probably won t come in Central Europe. And it most certainly won t pit the huge heavy armies that have faced each other for More than four decades. Reflecting the new geopolitical situation nato will rely increasingly on Mobile forces grouped in multinational units and trained to respond quickly to potential hot spots throughout nato territory a and perhaps even outside the Region. The new strategic Flash Points Likely will be on the fringes of nato territory a the volatile Southeast Region of Greece and Turkey or the Stark Uncertain Northern flank near the Baltic according to . Security officials and Western defense analysts. The revamped forces will require different operating tactics different equipment and different training from most of the forces clustered in Central Europe today. The idea for a smaller faster multinational Force in nato is More than just a matter of Slick repackaging driven by budget cutbacks. It has drawn a lot of attention since . Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and other Allied defense chiefs ordered a study of their use last month. Their Call was picked up by Alliance political leaders meeting in Scotland june 7-8 to look at the future of nato after German unification and conventional arms reduction treaties Are achieved. If As we Hope and expect soviet troops Are withdrawn behind soviet Borders then we should examine How Best the objective of protecting the full territory of All our members can be met Quot Secretary of state James Baker told his Allied counterparts during the meeting in Turnberry Scotland. Quot we agree wholeheartedly that multinational units will have an important role to play As we restructure our a picture of nato forces As pieced together by Alliance planners military and political leaders and Independent defense experts indicates that in addition to preparing for Battles in Remote Sites nato military forces will emphasize reinforcements and reserves. They will rely heavily on air defense and attacks by follow on forces to hamper enemy mobility. A the old idea of russian hordes coming Over with bayonets fixed is now out Quot said a senior nato official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Quot there might be just one Brush fire War going on in Southeast Europe Way Down on the Middle East frontiers. How do you swing resources from the Center to Down there you need or a theater Gen. John Galvin who commands Allied forces in Europe said the new multinational ground units will complement those in natos air and sea forces. The standing naval Force Atlantic established in 1967, flies the nato Flag. It is composed of destroyers and frigates drawn from Allied navies. The same is True of the naval on Call Force for the Mediterranean. In 1960, nato formed the Ace Mobile Force which uses the air and land forces of eight nato nations including the United states As a Quick reaction Force Able to react to any threatened part of the Alliance. A the next move to take probably is to go to the multinational corps a Galvin said during a recent interview in England. Quot within those corps the units would be National but the corps would be multinational. Quot you might have an american German and Canadian corps or you might have a German Belgium and British corps. That is the move we re looking defense implications of a United Germany and expected future conventional arms control accords convinced Alliance leaders to make the move toward multinational forces. The classic nato Forward defense in which corps Are Strung along the East West German Border in an overlapping layer cake fashion will become obsolete after the two Germany unite. Although nato officials will not say so publicly Many admit privately that the nato doctrine of Quot Forward defense Quot must adjust with the times. That doctrine required that natos Forward based forces would not give ground but repel an enemy attack at the Border. In that Way the a its z. Strategy differed from the classic defense tactic of giving ground to the enemy in order to gain time to counterattack on the enemy flanks. Assuming that nato and the Warsaw pact eventually agree to conventional arms reduction treaties a a it a going to be impossible to maintain the same layer cake defense along the German Border Quot said Marc fielder a defense analyst with the Royal United services Institute in Britain. With troops no longer poised for a massive soviet strike in the Central Region More professionalism in the red army by David Tarrant Brussels Bureau the red army would seem a Likely candidate for cartoon character Pogo s famous utterance Quot we have met the enemy and he is in recent months the defenders of the motherland have been kicked out of much of Eastern Europe torn by ethnic rivalry and demoralized at being made the Scapegoat for problems in the soviet Union. Yet surprisingly soviet forces Are expected to emerge in the 1990s As a streamlined professional army of High Quality. That a the View of top military and civilian analysts at nato As Well As Independent soviet experts. Quot however chaotic the conditions within the soviet Union and indeed sometimes because of these conditions the soviet armed forces will remain a potent instrument both of foreign and Domestic policy Quot senior nato military officials said recently in a paper on the soviet armed forces. These nato experts say soviet forces in the 1990s will be characterized by a professionalism. Some branches such As the Navy and strategic rocket forces will become totally forces will have a mix of professional soldiers and conscripts. A nationalism. The red army will become More russian and rely less on recruits from Central Asia because of ethnic frictions. The other soviet republics will begin to establish their own militia. A smaller forces. The Active Force will be smaller than the present size of 1.5 million personnel in air and ground forces. The Navy will be reduced to mostly coastal defense. A higher morale. As the forces become More professional and the failures of Afghanistan and Eastern Europe recede the military a status should increase. Ethnic tension will decrease As non slavic soldiers serve in their Home republics. By the end of the decade there May also be chaplains in the Force. Quot i think you la see a smaller army you la see a More professional army you la see a More slavic army a a senior nato military official said. They will also be a better equipped army. Like their nato counterparts the soviets will have to prepare for a far different Battlefield than the one that had guided their training since world War ii. With the armed forces reduced by conventional arms treaties the Battlefield will spread out. The ground forces will reorganize their divisions into combined arms units that might Combine both tank regiments and motorized Rifle regiments for example. The streamlined armed forces will have to cover greater distances with fewer soldiers. This will put More emphasis on High tech Long Range reconnaissance equipment of All types As Well As air defense to protect ground forces. Combat helicopters will become increasingly important because they can be used in both offensive and defense operations and because their Maneule ability gives them an extra Edge in surviving combat. Airborne and air assault forces will play a critical role in the restructured ground forces of the red army. But with the soviet Economy shattered it will be hard for the armed forces to pay the Bill for reorganizing. Natos soviet analyst Chris Donnelly believes that the military will place More emphasis on research and development in the civil sector. The soviet Gene staff which is responsible for Long Range develop me of the armed forces will use this expanded research and development sector to develop new weapons the prototype stage Only. Quot not to bring them into mass production but to create the capacity to do that a said Donnelly the soviet Logist in residence at nato Headquarters i Brussels in explaining soviet thinking. Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev a Campaign o reduce the size of the military and devote More attention to the National Economy has a military p y 1 according to Donnelly. Gorbachev must invest i modern technology industries because Only they develop the necessary prototypes for new Wear replace current forces which will be obsolete i years he said. I Ary Quot so Gorbachev is saying a let me reduce 0ult e and let me build up our Industry and then we Able to compete with the West a Tho / Rit to of notion ilium in Thyl soviet a High Page 14 a a a the stars and Stripe monday v Battlefield will become More spread fielder said. Of you re looking at a multinational Force j might reinforce the Southeast part of Southern Region you might have to a people a thousand Miles to get them i place compared to the Central Region re you would move people 300 Miles at 1,&Quot said a nato military official he new Mobile Battlefield will include be characteristics the distinction Between offensive and naive operations will become blurred in the rapidly moving scenarios and ground forces will be required to conduct both. A air defense or anti air operations will become critical for protecting mane vering ground forces from enemy air Power. A nato will emphasize Long Range reconnaissance systems. This includes aircraft that can focus on smaller targets communicate the location of the targets to the ground and get a missile fired on the target. A better communications equipment for in february 1990, the Allied come Europe Mobile Force held exercises in Norway. Left a British cavalry icebreaking Drill. Above soldiers from an engineering unit in the future nato will Likely rely increasingly on Mobile multinational forces. A amps Gus so Uin Llly a Battlefield commanders will take priority. The Mobile Battlefield is especially suited to multinational forces. A the ability to conduct Long Range reconnaissance to indicate More quickly where to deploy forces Quot becomes essential on the new Battlefield fielder said. In a centralized Multi Force command system Quot information is disseminated much More quickly Quot he said. Many Allied leaders believe that multinational forces allow nations to Pool costs of new technology and equipment. In a time of shrinking budgets few nations Are willing to take on big ticket items alone. But several defense experts warn that restructuring Allied forces into multinational units won t be simple or cheap. The reason there is no Standard equipment or operating procedures throughout nato. The Ace Mobile Force for example uses six different types of 105mm ammunition and there Are 50 different types of trucks in the Force according to a senior nato military official. Quot so its an expensive option in real military perhaps the Best reason for moving to multinational forces is an old but still valid idea that the display of Many flags alone will deter an aggressor. Quot there s Security in a common pot Quot said the nato military planner. Quot if they re going to shoot at one Brit that s one thing. Now if they shoot at one Brit one american and one Canadian Ide it harder for the red army to blend conscripts a its far Flung republics. Rising nationalism also Jerf ered with the army a ability to conduct Large ple police functions. L think the republics will move More toward local Litia made up of conscripts a said Bill Wallace of the tit Ute for soviet and East european studies in Askow Scotland. There have been demands in Georgia and Erb Aijan that conscripts from those republics serve july within those Borders and a popular movement in a Ukraine has called for its own separate army. A a the red army will probably be made up of purely Jafes signal soldiers Quot Wallace said. Most of the bees signals will be drawn from Russia rather than the Ter republics he said. And there will be a reluctance to use this highly fined professional army As a backup police Force to Bell National uprisings in the republics Wallace said. Tead the local militia will be used for this purpose. Finally military leaders no longer will be Able to use Jim Monist party ideology and slogans to motivate Diers. The party no longer has a monopoly on Power a communism has lost much of its motivational Jepeal a particularly among Young people the senior t0 military official said. I you done to do it with party ideology anymore you up by appealing to something else much More Basic i an Appeal to russian nationalism a he said. Ii think you la see a much More russian Western experts predict big changes for the soviet 25, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 15
