Gorbachev And His Generals by William C. Green

Author:William C. Green [Green, William C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, General, Europe, Scandinavia, Political Science
ISBN: 9780429714252
Google: U7uZDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-05-20T03:01:12+00:00

The Naval Argument

A recent book, Voenno-morskoi flot: rol’, perspectikvy razvitiia, ispol’ zovanie, lays out the Soviet forecasting process. It is the acuity of that process and its doctrinal correlates that has largely enabled Moscow to make up its technological deficit and to compete strategically with the West. Forecasting, they contend, is the determination of future probability data about the directions and trends in the development of the military, its equipment, military art at home and abroad (or in friendly and enemy coalitions), and on the course and outcome of the armed struggle and the war as a whole.33 The results of military forecasting predetermine strategic decisions on naval arms development, plans, and programs. Forecasts are the basis for drawing up these program documents and are thus intimately tied to the planning process outlined by Petersen and Trulock. As a rule they precede planning and creates the scientific data base for it. Forecasts are used to increase the scientific level and validity of planning.34 For example, in his preface to the work, the late Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union S.G. Gorshkov stated that the present conditions of naval warfare demand the most rational combination of weapons capabilities, offensive and defensive alike, in combined arms operations, joined by automated control and target designation equipment. Therefore, the naval planner cannot limit himself to forecasting the development of individual weapons systems and their platforms. Instead:

In order to meet today’s demands, a forecast must encompass the development of weapon systems, the means for controlling them, and means for global surveillance over vast areas which are adequate for the increased ranges of modern weapons. In other words, now it is necessary to have a comprehensive forecast of combat equipment development that takes into account the world military-political situation, economic and scientific-technical capabilities for creating arms, the military capabilities for creating arms, the military objectives for which weapons and combat equipment are being created, the conditions under which they will be employed, as well as the methods of their combat employment35

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.