EUROPE BRACES TO MEET GREATER SOVIET THREAT

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27860, 7 January 1956, Page 8

EUROPE BRACES TO MEET GREATER SOVIET THREAT

N.A.T.O. COUNCIL

(By

JULES MENKEN,

in the United Kingdom Information Service!

The recent meeting in Paris of the North Atlantic Council—the highest governing body of N.A.T.O.—has been a success. Its success was not due to any lessening of the danger which faces the free world. The N.A.T.O. chiefs of staff report the contrary. They state that the reduction of the Soviet armed forces by 640.000 men (leaving over 4,000.000 under arms, apart from the European satellites Outer Mongolia, and China) has in no way significantly reduced Soviet combat capabilities. They report that there is no sign of any reduction in the Soviet military effort. And they conclude that the Soviet military threat is now “greater than at any previous time.” Nor did the Paris meeting succeed because Soviet policy has relaxed international tension or moved in the direction of peace. The contrary again is true. Indeed the North Atlantic Council was obliged to note with regret the changes for the worse since the Geneva “summit” conference in Julv appeared to ease the world scene. The first change is that, despite the directive to which the Soviet leaders then agreed, Moscow has now refused to negotiate about German reunification through free elections. The second change is that Moscow has made clear its opposition to any effective systeqj for controlling armaments, including the Eisenhower proposal of an air inspection plan. The third change (in the words of a Paris communique) is that lhe Soviet Union has “given proof of its fear and hostility with regard to the free exchange of information” between its own people' and the free world. Strengthening Weakest Links In this sombre situation the important thing for N.A.T.O. is to strengthen the weakest links in its defence structure. At present these lie in the arrangements for air defence in Europe. Effective air defence involves many elements. One is the right field organisation. including aircraft, weapons, airfields, flying and ground crews, etc., in the necessary numbers and quality. A second is the right command organisation. A third is an efficient warning system. In various aspects of this N.A.T.O. has made progress in the last year. Aircraft have been coming better from the factories. In Western Europe there has been an improvement in quality and numbers. The Second Allied Tactical Air Force has now squadrons equipped with Hawker Hunters, the latest British day fighter coming into squadron service in the Royal Air Force. The Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force has been receiving some American Super Sabres to reinforce its F-86 fighters. British and American bomber strength capable of carrying atomic bombs against airfields from which an enemy air attack can come has also increased.

The command organisation for air defence has hitherto been, in the main, the national responsibility of the N.A.T.O. countries. Because of the speed and range of modern aircraft this arrangement has made air defence the least effective part of the N.A.T.O. European Command. At the Paris meeting the North Atlantic Council therefore decided to grant new powers of co-ordination to General Gruenther as N.A.T.O.’s Supreme Commander in Europe. Under these powers he will not move national air units from one country to another, but he will link up the national parts into larger wholes. And on the technical side he will be able, for example, to ensure the siting of radar stations in places which serve the needs of N.A.T.O. as a whole. Warning of Air Attack This change is especially important m view of the Paris decision to improve N.A.T.O.’s system for early warning of an enemy air attack. The first and most urgent measure will be to fill the serious existing gaps and build a strong radar chain extending from Northern Norway to Eastern Turkey. The second measure will be to construct a new communication system—based on the electrical ‘equivalent to signalling by means of

mirrors—which will use what is called tropospheric and ionospheric “scatter” to establish coipmunications economical in manpower and relatively unsusceptible to jamming or other enemy interference. One leason for the success of the recent N.A.T.O. meeting was the American decision to finance the cost • roughly £15.000.000) of pilot projects tor the new electronic “scatter” communications system. Another reason was Britain's offer to exchange information with her N.A.T.O. allies on guided missiles. This offer was psychologically very important, since it r vercomes the feeling of some smaller N.A.T.O. countries that their armed forces are out of date and that they lack the resources needed to develop new weapons. The third reason for success in Paris was the decision to remind member nations of Article 2 of the N.A.T.O. Treaty. This article, which calls on them to oromote conditions of stability and well-being and to encourage mutual economic collaboration, is relevant when secondary disagreements on which feeling is strong throw superfluous shadows on the international scene. “Foundation of Security” The fresh turn in Soviet policy makes N.A.T.O.’s strength more important than ever. What the Paris communique called “recent provocative moves and declarations by the Soviet Union regarding the Middle East and Asia . . . coupled with the continued increase in Soviet capacity” were recognised by the N.A.T.O. Council to have “created new problems ’•nd a new challenge to the free Worln" In certain fields, notably on land, N.A.T.O. is still not strong enough to make its members fully secure. But the spirit and will to meet the challenge are there. As the Paris communique put it. N.A.T.O. “remains an essential foundation of the security” of member countries, whose association within N.A.T.0.. being strictly defensive, “is in direct contrast to the obsolete system under which isolated nations are in danger of being subjugated one bv one by despotic groups such as the Soviet bloc.” The Pans meeting was successful not least because it gave expression to this spirit and resolute will.