Soviets getting ahead on all types of arms—N.A.T.O. head

Press, 21 February 1980, Page 7

Soviets getting ahead on all types of arms—N.A.T.O. head

NZPA-Juter Washington! The/oviet Union has sur-’ passeq the West, or soon will, I all types of con-: ventiqal and nuclear! weapls, the commander of' the forth Atlantic Treaty Orga/sation (General Ber-1 nardiogers) has said. : Tn primary danger to the 1 Wesfrn alliance derived fronjthe continuing adverse balapes of forces between the) Warsaw Pact and:

.N.A.T.0., he'told the American Senate Armed Services .Committee. i The N.A.T.O. commander said the Soviet Union either had surpassed the West or ’was about to do so with conventional weapons, battlefield nuclear weapons, and strategic weapons such as inter-continental ballistic missiles. : The risks and opportu- . nities in Continental Europe land at sea in the 1980 s had

to be assessed against the backdrop of a relentless accumulation of Soviet military power over the past 15 years, General Rogers said. The Soviet Union, which allocates between 13 and 15 per cent of its gross national product to defence, outproduced N.A.T.O. at the rate of two or three to one, or more, in most big weapons, he said. General Rogers said: “As a result of this unabated growth of military power, the Soviets have surpassed the West, or soon will, in all

three types of forces required by our N.A.T.O. strategy — conventional, theatre nuclear, and central strategic.” General Rogers said that ability had been demonstrated by the airlifting of troops and material to Angola, South Yemen, Ethiopia, and Afghanistan. The over-all effect had been the transformation of the Soviet threat from one directed primarily towards Western Europe to one which was truly global in scope, General Rogers said.