European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 28, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                So graphic Filo r. Galvin turkish chg a nato Turkey. Second u. Scott Slaten left and Bernd Kraus a German sergeant first class participate in a joint  strategy for new times $45vince Crawley a new multinational Quot rapid reaction Quot Force will be the key to a revamped nato strategy it. Aimed at Quick intervention in a a a a a crisis spots that could arise anywhere from the Arctic to the Mediterranean senior Alliance officials say. The Force which would Combine air land and sea units is part of the massive adjustment by the Western Alliance to the end of the cold was and pressure to reduce defense budgets and troop strength the outline of the new strategy is expected to be approved by nato defense ministers meeting in Brussels today it Calls for a three layered mixture of Active duty and Reserve forces that could be used by nato commanders for rapid reaction main defense and augmentation or reinforcement. Under the new system the main a defense forces would account for about two thirds of the total nato strength in Europe while the rapid reaction Force a a 1 would total about 7 percent. The balance would be composed of ready reserves. Nato currently has 2.2 million troops in Europe but economic pressures on the 16 members and the diminished threat _ from the former Eastern bloc could Cut that number by 30 percent to 50 percent Over the next five years. The initial rapid reaction Force would include a lightly armed multinational task Force of about 5,000 people. It could be sent at Short notice to any threatened part of Allied come Europe to demonstrate the Solidarity of the Alliance to defend itself against aggression. The Force would be modelled after the age Mobile Force which now includes. Land or air forces from Belgium Canada. Germany Italy Luxembourg the. Netherlands the United kingdom and the United states. The new brigade size task Force i amp expected to also include Turkey Greece Norway Denmark and possibly Spain officials said. _. _ should the immediate reaction Force fail a corps size rapid reaction unit of Between 50,000 and 70,000 troops would a  to bolster Alliance defences a although the final details have not been set nato ministers will be studying military proposal that recommends a rapid reaction corps composed of four divisions including a multinational division with forces from Germany Belgium i a Britain and the Netherlands and another multinational division made up of Fortes from the Southern Region the two other divisions would be exclusively from one nation each. Britain has indicated willingness to take a command of the rapid reaction Force and possibly provide two divisions according Quot to nato sources nato is studying the possibility of locating the corps Headquarters in Germany. A the United states and Canada will. _ a Likely  support but have not. Decided to what extent they will become involved in the rapid reaction land forces nato officials said at a briefing Friday. This rapid reaction corps could Wear a two hats and be used by european nations outside of nato territory such As a for Iraq s invasion of Kuwait a the next layer of defense would be Quot nato s Quot main defense  although. Kept at lower Levels of readiness these forces could be boosted by reinforcements from North America and Europe according to officials although details Are still to be worked out the main defense forces Are Likely to be multinational. For example a  corps with a German division or a Gorman led corps with a . Division a dutch led corps with a German division or a belgian led corps with German and  divisions. Final approval of the new Security a Structure is scheduled to take place at a nato Heads of state Summit tentatively set for october or november. Nato officials said Friday Gen. John a Galvin nato s top military commander in Europe said some elements of the changes Are already under Way and the entire plan could be implemented within the next few years Quot this is just like other things in the Field of strategy and Force Structure a Galvin said. Quot even when you begin to study future change you re showing that you recognize the need for change. So some people take action already in the direction that things Are going Quot already the five year defense plans of some countries reflect nato s new strategy outlined in the Alliance s London declaration last year. That strategy a Quot emphasizes smaller More Mobile forces Quot but is based on the principle of Quot Quot regeneration Quot so they could come up in size rapidly when necessary to said Quot so we re already making shifts we re cutting Back on the nuclear stockpile but keeping a nuclear capability As a last resort Quot Galvin said Quot we re cutting Back. On Active military forces but we re carefully reorganizing our Reserve Structure and we re looking at ways to increase our mobility a a a David Tarrant the stars and stripes a Page 15