Documents / FOIA release

Warsaw Pact Forces opposite NATO, NIE 11-14-79, Volume II, the Estimate, CIA/NFAC, 31 January 1979

Central Intelligence Agency · 201 pages · text from the file's own layer

This is Volume II of National Intelligence Estimate 11-14-79, Warsaw Pact Forces Opposite NATO, issued by the Director of Central Intelligence and dated January 1979. The National Foreign Intelligence Board concurred with it. It was the first comprehensive estimate of Pact forces facing NATO since 1971. It covers Pact doctrine, the ground, air, naval, nuclear and chemical forces, command and control, and campaign plans for war in Europe. It judges that Central Europe would be the decisive arena, and it lists Pact weaknesses in pilot training and antisubmarine warfare. The document contains no UFO material.

  • p. 114 …recently halted Soviet air operations from Conakry. These developments will obviously force the 257. Many officers…
  • p. 115 …order to keep other in establishing effective air cover over supporting lines units operational. of communication…
  • p. 185 …The Soviets could elect to provide combat forces scale commitment of manpower and materiel which to…
  • p. 187 …This force is occasionally aug- forces could not be safely transported by sea or air to…
  • p. 188 …a war, but they couldsome naval and air force weapons (including a few recently introduced Flogger…
Top | .
Table II-13
Selected Warsaw Pact CW Agents and Weapon Systems
Artillery Free-Fall
Munitions Bombs
(size in (weight in Rocket Missle
Agent millimeters) kilograms) Warheads Warheads
(entry indicates availability of delivery system for agent specified)
Nerve
Thickened Soman ...................... - 100 FROG Scud
Sarin ........................ . . 122, 152 100, 250 BM-21 -
BM-24
Vesicant (Blister)
M ustard ................................... 122, 152 - - -
Thickened Mustard 122, .152 - --
Thickened Lewisite .................... 122, 152 - - -
Mustard/Lewisite Mixture .......... - 100, 250, - -
500, 1,000
1,500
Thickened/Mustard/Lewisite
Mixture ........... ............. - 250, 1,000 -
Systemic
tHydrogen Cyanide ...................... - 250, 500 BM-21 -
BM-24
the immediate path of a Soviet advance probably They would be used against personnel in the open and
would be attacked with nonpersistent CW agents to contaminate materiel and selected areas of terrain,
delivered by tube and rocket artillery and aerial especially on the axes of defensive operations. Ground-
bombs. Some Soviet chemical bombs are fitted with a burst of thickened blister agent munitions would be
fuse designed to provide optimum area coverage. used to achieve very heavy contamination of smaller
191. Warsaw Pact military writings indicate that areas. Chemical mines are usually filled with blister
fragmentation-chemical shells, which disseminate the agents and would be used alone or interspersed with
liquid agent fill almost entirely as vapor and aerosol in antitank or antipersonnel mines.
order to cause casualties quickly through 'inhalation, CBR Training and Equipment
are to be used with unthickened GB, mustard, and
probably GD. Thickened GD is also probably filled in 193. Soviet research in chemical, biological, and
aerial airburst bombs and missile warheads to produce radiological warfare has been extensive. The Soviets
casualties from the toxic "rain" effect. Warheads for possess large quantities of a wide range of equipment,
the FROG and Scud filled with thickened GD and much of which is of recent design, for use in a toxic
fused to burst at high altitude are planned to achieve a environment. Extensive training in its use is integral to
casualty rate of up to 80 percent among unprotected military exercises for all Soviet and NSWP ground,
personnel naval, and air forces. These same training procedures
and protective equipment would enable the Soviets to
operate on the offensive as well as on the defensive
[ he casualties would1e caused primarily within the toxic areas of combat. Equipment and
by skin penetration of the toxic, thickened GD "rain." training for chemical protection are combined with
that for biological or radiological protection, and the
192. Rocket artillery would be used to blanket large special CBR troops are responsible for these three
areas with the nonpersistent agents GB and hydrogen types of activity. At present there are about 60,000
cyanide, the latter where immediate occupation of the personnel and 8,000 decontamination and 4,000 recon-
area after the attack was desired. The blister agents, naissance vehicles assigned to specialized Pact CBR
mustard and mustard-lewisite mixtures, are contained defense units. If all current, active Pact ground, air,in aerial and ground munitions fused to airburst for and naval units were brought up to full strength, the
maximum area contamination with the toxic liquid number of Pact CBR personnel would double.
11-60

Not linked to a story yet.

About this file

FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 201 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.