N.A.T.O. okays U.S. plan

Press, 3 December 1982, Page 6

N.A.T.O. okays U.S. plan

NZPA Brussels N.A.T.O. Defence Ministers are expected to state today their will to strengthen the alliance’s defences, especially conventional forces. They will say at the end of their two-day regular autumn session that they intend to explore ways to take full advantage of emerging technologies, according to diplomatic sources. The Ministers agreed yesterday to evaluate an American plan to use a mix of air surveillance, fast data transmission, and precision-guided munitions to increase N.A.T.O.’s capacity to pin down the second wave of any Warsaw Pact land thrust before it can join the battle. Western officials said that the plan would make N.A.T.O.’s conventional forces more efficient but should not be seen as a substitute for a strong nuclear deterrent.

Long-range missiles would deliver over the target areas loads of various precisionguided munitions and weapons which would themselves seek and destroy ar-

moured formations, airfields and bridges. These so-called interdiction missions are now assigned to aircraft pilots faced with the increasingly difficult task of flying through the dense Communist air defences. The West German Defence Minister, Mr Manfred Woerner, wrote in a report issued in June when he was still in Opposition that modern conventional weapons technology gives the defender a decisive advantage over the attacker. The plan outlined to the Ministers by the United States Defence Secretary, Mr Caspar Weinberger, yesterday would be a “force multiplier” and should not be seen as a panacea or a cheap solution, . West European officials said. The chairman of N.A.T.O.’s military committee, Admiral Robert Falls, of Canada, said yesterday that such a plan would not alter the alliance’s strategy of forward defence.