The Soviet image of future war: “Through the prism of the Persian Gulf”
Titel:
The Soviet image of future war: “Through the prism of the Persian Gulf”
Auteur:
Fitzgerald, Mary C.
Verschenen in:
Comparative strategy
Paginering:
Jaargang 10 (1991) nr. 4 pagina's 393-435
Jaar:
1991-10
Inhoud:
According to Soviet military experts, the Gulf War was a “technological operation” and therefore a prototype of future war. As a result, the development of the Soviet Armed Forces will now be planned “through the prism of the Persian Gulf.” Soviet military officials have also highlighted several larger and more long-term lessons of the Gulf War. First, the Gulf War is said to have confirmed Marshal Ogarkov's forecasts on the nature of future war: the “order-of-magnitude” improvements in emerging non-nuclear technologies are making these systems equal to nuclear weapons, and generating a “revolution” in the methods of conducting combat operations. Second, the Gulf War is said to have invalidated Moscow's 1987 “defensive doctrine.” Third, the Gulf War has prompted the Soviet military to redefine the whole concept of “deterrence.” Deterrence is now said to require not only nuclear parity, but also parity in high-tech non-nuclear forces. Fourth, the Gulf War has generated serious Soviet concerns over the future of U.S.-Soviet arms control negotiations. The crushing weight of advanced technologies confirmed that these weapons and the systems employed to integrate them could negate the more traditional measures of military power and revolutionize combined-arms concepts. In short, the Gulf War is said to have demonstrated that a qualitative future has replaced the quantitative past of warfare. And according to Soviet military experts, the heart of current arms control treaties belongs to that past.
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