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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 1168.PDF
659 . FLIGHT International, 23 April 1964 "This aircraft is rugged, easily maintained and capable of operating from small grass strips ..." A Fiat G.9I ordnance display at an Italian Air Force base existing after having been subjected to a surprise attack, still powerful enough to destroy the enemy. (5) Only the deterrent can prevent a general nuclear war and contain the Russian threat, thus avoiding unconditional surrender. (6) The Western deterrent not only protects NATO but allows all free people in the non-committed bloc to make a free choice, which would be impossible if the Western deterrent did not exist. (7) The establishment of a deterrent force is the first responsibility of nations possessing the required financial, technical and industrial capacity. However, its political and military importance is so significant that all nations of the alliance, within the framework of the economic and political situation of each nation, have the right and duty to participate in the NATO common deterrent. (8) The deterrent is effective only if its power is always maintained at so high a level as to cause, beyond any doubt and at any time, losses higher than those a possible aggressor can or wants to bear. (9) Limited deterrents have no military value with respect to the Communist bloc. (10) Since the Soviet bloc keeps on devoting considerable effort to the development and improvement of all usable means for an atomic and nuclear war, it is mandatory that the Western bloc should at least equal Russian progress. (1!) The psychological component of the deterrent, i.e., decision and will, is not considered in the present notes since this vital component is more a political responsibility than a military one. (C) Limited Conventional Wars (12) The existence of an effective deterrent conditions the aim of limited wars. That aim can no longer be to impose the will of the winner on the enemy through a full, complete and absolute military victory, since the deterrent's purpose is to prevent final defeat, and it would be used before such a defeat were suffered. (13) The result is that limited wars can be kept as such only through the common will of the two blocs; therefore, they are characterized by limited aims, theatre, forces and weapons. (14) The primary aim of a limited war determined by the Com- munist bloc can only be to test the capacity and will of the Western bloc to intervene in problems which cannot cause atomic war. (15) The solution to the problem representing the apparent reasons for a limited war cannot be reached through the issue of the conflict, but has to be negotiated on the political level. (16) Notwithstanding the initial restricted aims of a limited war, the outbreak of such a war will determine a phase of higher inter- national tension which may lead to a general war, especially if the following events happen jointly or singly: (a) weakening of the Western deterrent; (b) geographical expansion of the conflict; (c) expansion of the conflict in terms of the use of more and more powerful weapons, according the conventional-tactical-atomic- nuclear weapon scale; (d) firm initial advantages gained by the Eastern bloc, which cannot be cancelled by the Western bloc through the use of conventional armed forces. (17) On the basis of para 16(a), the Western deterrent must be kept as powerful as possible during limited conflicts. No one of its components can, therefore, be used during limited conflict. (18) On the basis of paras 16(a), (b), (c) and (d), it is necessary that NATO have available very mobile conventional forces, so as to be able to concentrate on the conflict's focal point, in order to isolate it geographically and prevent the enemy from attaining important initial results. If important initial results were achieved, more complex and heavy operations, from a geographical point of view and/or from the standpoint of forces and weapons employed, would be necessary, with the danger of escalation to a general war. (19) Even in the nuclear era, while maintaining the deterrent's priority, conventional armed forces have a vital and irreplaceable role, in order to maintain peace and to prevent limited conflict from deteriorating into a catastrophe. They provide an answer to a limited enemy action, without having to choose between catastrophe and acceptance of defeats which, even if not fundamentally im- portant individually, will certainly end by at least undermining the psychological component of the Alliance. (2) The fundamental and significant element of the conventional armed forces' effectiveness is their capability of timely intervention in the limited conflict area. (21) NATO mobile forces under Allied command with a signifi- cant air strike and air transport capability are the best protection against limited conflicts, since they show the common will and capability of effective Allied intervention in all possible areas in which a limited conflict may develop. (D) Limited Atomic Wars (22) The use of tactical atomic weapons during limited wars creates a serious danger of getting involved in a general nuclear conflict, because of the power of these weapons, even if only a tactical one* and mainly because it shows that the common desire of the two blocs to contain the conflict may turn into the acceptance of a general conflict. (23) Since the will of the two blocs is the only element that can maintain a conflict within reasonable limits, the danger that such a will may escalate would constitute a serious threat to world safety. It would cause serious military and political reactions all over the world against the bloc which initially used the atomic weapons, even though only tactical ones. (24) Should atomic weapons be used during a limited conflict, the last feeble hope of still containing the conflict would lie in confining their use to well determined and limited geographical areas. In the case of limited conflicts, therefore, aircraft associated * // is well known that the bombs which destroyed Nagasaki andHiroshima had an explosive power that now classifies them as medium tactical weapons. Tactical weapons now have an explosive capacityconsiderably higher than all the explosives dropped during the last world war on the most heavily bombed German towns. helicopter has a wry important role in anti-submarine warfare": ajne study of the French Noyy Sod Aviation Super Frelon *
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