Documents / FOIA release
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.
“Headquarters”14 pages
designed primarily for use against large-area targets, and speeds and maximum ranges of from 80 to about such as ports, and which has a range of 450 nm (830 200 nm (145 to 360 km). There are also about 40 km). TU-22 Blinder A's which could be used for bombing 118. In addition to cruise-missile submarines, the and mining. The naval Badgers, which first entered Soviet western fleets include 30 nuclear-powered and service in 1957, are relatively large and slow moving sovet weston rngfleets inc e 3,a n clss e-powere d by current standards. They are highly vulnerable tosome 59 long-ranige I-, Z-, arid T-class diesel-powered mdr i eesssc stoeo eldfne attack submarines. Most Soviet nuclear attack subma- nodern air defenses such as those of well-defended rines are fast-27 to 32 knots-and, despite relatively- aircraft carrier task groups. Improvements in their missile and electronic warfare systems, however, have high noise radiation, could be effective in antiship maintained them as firstline strike aircraft. operations. Soviet long-range diesel submarines are much slower than the nuclear units. They are particu- 120. The introduction of some 40 Backfire bombers larly susceptible to detection when snorkeling, but can into the Baltic and Black Sea Fleet air forces to date remain submerged for extended periods. In addition has significantly improved the strike capability of the. there are medium- and short-range diesel units which Soviet Navy against NATO~surface forces." Because of would likely be employed in areas closer to the Soviet the modern, higher speed air-to-surface missile it Union. carries, its variable flight profiles, its maneuverability, 1.19. The Soviet Navy has some 215 missile- and its high-speed capabilities, the Backfire has a .higher probability of penetrating NATO naval air equipped bomber aircraft opposite NATO for antiship attacks. (See figure II-22.) They include about 175 See NIE 11-3/8-78 and section D of this chapter (paragraph TU-16 Badgers and some 40 Backfires. These aircraft 179 and figure I1-30) for details of the differing agency estimates carry four types of missiles with various flight profiles of the Backfire's capabilities. Soviet Naval Strike Aircraft Figure 11-22a TU-16 Badger TU-22 Blinder Backfire C C (modified) G Year operational 1960 1971 1965 1962 1974 Payload One AS-2 Two AS-5 Two AS-5 3,000 kilograms or or (bombs) two AS-6 two AS-6 Maximum 1,450 1,150 1,150 , 1,740 See figure Il-30b for differing unrefu radiu (nm)0 1,15agency assessments of theunrefueled radius (nm) Backfire's performance characteristics. Maximum radius with 2,050 1,850 1,850 2,350 prestrike refueling (nm) 579026 minc 11-36
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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.