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Aviation History
1990
1990 - 3627.PDF
WORLD'S AIR FORCES Compiled by Patil Hatch I raq's invasion of Kuwait on 2 August, 1990, has not slowed the pace of change in East-West relations. Events in the Gulf did not prevent the signing, on 19 November, of the conventional forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, under which the Warsaw Pact will have to eliminate around 20% of its combat-aircraft fleet. NATO does not face any mandatory combat-aircraft reductions under CFE, but cuts are inevitable. Even as the USA embarked on massive deployments to the Gulf, it continued with plans for force reductions and the cutting back, stretching out or termination of major weapons programmes. Even as it doubled its Gulf commitment, the UK announced plans to close two RAF Germany bases and to retire or store combat aircraft. War in the Gulf .will not halt a trend that results from fundamental policy changes in the Soviet Union. The reshaping of defences on both sides of the former Iron Curtain will continue apace over the next year, as the West adjusts to the virtual collapse of the Warsaw Pact as a viable military alliance and the East adapts to the withdrawal of Soviet garrisons. Change has been set in motion that events in the Gulf can only modify, not "reverse. Iraq's aggression may, however, set a minimum level of capability below which forces likely to be called on to operate "out of area" cannot be reduced. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 5-11 December. 1990 35
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