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Warsaw Pact Air Forces: Support of Strategic Operations in Central Europe, CIA/DI/SOVA Intelligence Assessment, January 1985.

Central Intelligence Agency · 95 pages · text from the file's own layer

This Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Intelligence assessment, dated January 1985, examines how Warsaw Pact air forces would support large strategic operations in Central Europe. It concludes that the Soviets see NATO air power as the greatest threat to a Pact ground offensive. They revised their air supremacy plans in 1980 and 1981 to use sector-concentrated raids and a defensive air operation. The assessment also finds that heavy aircraft losses and limited deep attack capability would remain serious problems. The document has no UFO content.

  • p. 20 Top\Secret Of these missions, the Soviets place greatest emphasis Emergence of the Iritial Air Operation…
  • p. 45 …A more immediate tactical require- duties to perform other missions, such as attackingment, however, would be…
  • p. 46 …Its mission which would be used to maintain air cover in thewould-be-to establish the…
  • p. 54 …missions. We cannot rule out the possibili-TMO high command's area of direct control in…
  • p. 58 …Even in circumstances where final reconnaissance missions could be flown before the strikes, Soviet radio communications…
  • p. 59 …The targets ofappendix A for a brief discussion of these missions). subsequent air operations would in…
  • p. 70 …Soviet control of the key Pact command posi- front missile and artillery forces, front air defensetions…
  • p. 72 …forces missions, rather than the depth of the army offensive operation-typicallyas separate missions. about 150…
  • p. 92 …forces, command and control centers, and other rear area installations in the area of the planned…
Too Secret
Figure 13
Execution of a Typical Initial Massed Nuclear
Strike by the Western High Command-
Subordinate Air Forces-
Echelon: Support Strike Third
Roles Final reconnaissance Nuclear strikes Nuclear reserve
Fighter sweeps Fighter cover Fighter cover
Defense suppression Defense suppression
Final reconnaissance
Time over target H-90 to 11.30 and 11+15 to H+20 to H+45 minutes 11+25 to H+90
(11-start) H+45 minutes minutes
Force distribution Most reconnaissance aircraft Nearly all light bombers Less than 5 percent of light
33 percent of fighters 60 to 65 percent of bombers and
About 33 percent of Fighter-bombers fighter-bombers
fighter-bombers 33 percent of fighters 33 percent of fighters
Typical force compositiono 175 Reconnaissance aircraft 180 Light bombers 335 Fighters
235 Fighters 420 Fighter-bombers 5 Light bombers
220 Fighter-bombers 235 Fighters 20 Fighter-bombers
50 Reconnaissance aircraft
Note: Italics indicate primaryrolesin the strike.
a Targets within the strike demarcation line except those covered by the
Baltic Sea Fleet.
b We assumesuficient time to readythe full strikeforce. a three-front
force disposition, subordinatlon of the LegnicaSAA to the Westernhigh
command,nonparticipatioti yr nationalair defensefighters, no prior
attrition, and operationalreadinessratesof theair forcesas in table3.
The strike echelon, composed of about a third of the strike aircraft typically also would be accompanied by
fighters, nearly all of the light bombers, approximate- one or more conventionally armed defense suppression
ly two-thirds of the fighter-bombers, and the remain- aircraft. The third echelon would contain the small
ing reconnaissance aircraft would follow minutes lat- airborne nuclear reserve force (to strike newly detect-
er. They would deliver their nuclear strikes between ed and surviving targets) and the remaining third of
about 20 and 45 minutes after H-hour, provide ac- the fighters (charged with guarding the safe recovery
companying top cover, and perform final reconnais- of the first two echelons at the conclusion of the
sance for the upcoming second strike of the ground mission)
forces missiles and nuclear artillery. Each group of
Top\Secret 48

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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 95 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.