Documents / FOIA release
This is an October 1968 contribution by the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of Strategic Research to National Intelligence Estimate 11-14-68 on Soviet and East European general purpose forces. It covers Warsaw Pact war plans for Central Europe, the effects of the Czechoslovak crisis, and the doubling of Soviet forces on the Chinese border since 1965. It also assesses ground, tactical air, naval and coastal defense forces. The text does not mention UFOs or unidentified aerial phenomena.
“Indian Air Force”2 pages
wTOT E RE T Polaris submarines, the Soviets appear to have decided to develop a submarine force that can reduce the effectiveness of US and Western stra- The characteristics of the new classes of surface.ships and recent conversion programs indicate the Soviets are intent upon developing a surface force capable of long-range extended oper- ations that can defend itself against air, surface, and submarine attack. This force is responsible for conducting ASW operations in local waters, escorting amphibious and supply ships, and pro- viding backup defense against intruding surface forces. The forces are being deployed to more.dis- tant locations to provide the combat naval capability and naval presence required by Soviet foreign policy. The main missions cf the Soviet Naval Air Forces (SNAF) are (1) reconnaissance and strike operations against naval surface forces and:(2) antisubmarine warfare. .,Capabilities against US carrier attack forces have been emphasized, but the ASW mission is receiving increased attention. Other missions include minelaying and strikes against land targets such as port facilities. 2. Naval Force Levels and Construction Programs a. Submarines The size of the general purpose submarine force has remained stable over the past year at almost 330 submarines. There are currently about 60 operational cruise-missile submarines in the Soviet fleet, more than half of them of the nuclear-powered E class. Attack- submarines -number about 270, of which 14 to 18 units are nuclear powered. The cruise-missile submarine force will probably re- main fairly stable in size for the next several years, the only change being the addition of a few diesel- powered J-class units. Although the composition of the attack submarine force will be changed by ad- ditional units of three new classes,. the size of this force will decline during the 1970's with the phase-out of older units of the Q and W classes. (See Table 4, next page.) - 81 - Top -SECRET
Not linked to a story yet.
FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 115 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.