MIDS multi-functional information distribution system
MIRV multiple individually targeted re-entry vehicle(s)
MLRS multiple-launch rocket system
MNR Mozambique National Resistance
MPLA Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola
MRCA multiple role combat aircraft
MRUSTAS medium-range unmanned aerial surveillance & targeting system
NAAFI Navy, Army & Air Force Institutes
NADGE NATO air-defence ground environment
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NCO non-commissioned officer
NORTHAG Northern Army Group
NPA National People’s Army
OAS Organization of American States
OAU Organization for African Unity
ODCA Organization Democratica Cristiana de America
PACAF Pacific Air Force
PLA People’s Liberation Army
PLSS precision location strike system
RAAMS remote anti-armour mine system
RDM remotely delivered mine(s)
REMBAS remotely monitored battlefield sensor system
RPV remotely-piloted vehicle(s)
RWR radar warning receiver
SAC Strategic Air Command
SACEUR Supreme Allied Commander Europe
SACLANT Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic
SADARM seek and destroy armour (ATGW)
SAF Soviet Air Force
SALT Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
SAM surface-to-air missile(s)
SHAPE Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe
SHQ squadron headquarters
Sitrep situation report
SLBM submarine-launched ballistic missile(s)
SLCM submarine-launched cruise missile(s)
SLEP service life extension programme
SNAF Soviet Naval Air Force
SOTAS stand-off target acquisition system
SOUTHAG Southern Army Group
SP self-propelled
SRF Strategic Rocket Forces (Soviet)
SSBN submarine(s), strategic ballistic nuclear
SSGN submarine(s), guided missile nuclear
SSM surface-to-surface missile(s)
SSN submarine(s), nuclear
START Strategic Arms Reduction Talks
SURTASS surface-towed array sensor system
SWAPO South-west Africa People’s Organization
TACEVAL tactical evaluation
TACFIRE tactical fire direction
TACTASS tactical towed array sonar system
TAWDS target acquisition and weapon delivery system
TERCOM terrain contour matching (guidance system)
TNF theatre nuclear force(s)
TOW tube launched optically tracked wire guided (ATGW)
UKAD United Kingdom Air Defence
UNIFIL United Nations Force in Lebanon
UNFISMATRECO United Nations Fissile Materials Recovery Organization
UNITA National Union for the Total Independence of Angola
USAF United States Air Force
USAFE United States Air Force Europe
USAREUR United States Army in Europe
VELA velocity and angle of attack
V/STOL vertical/short take-off and landing
WESTLANT Western Atlantic
ZANLA Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army
ZIPRA Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army
Foreword
Earlier this year, at Eastertide in 1987, we, a group of Britons deeply aware of how narrowly such freedoms as the Western world enjoys had been able to survive the onslaught upon them of the enemies of freedom in August 1985, completed a book about the causes, course and outcome of the Third World War. In the prologue to that book (a short piece of writing of which every word stands as firmly today, six months later, as it did then, and perhaps deserves re-reading) we wrote: ‘Much will be said and written about these events in years to come, as further sources come to light and further thought is given to this momentous passage in the history of our world.’[1] A good deal more information has indeed become available since then.
The belligerent involvement of Sweden and Ireland, for example, was passed over in our first book, not through unawareness of its importance but through uncertainty about the political implications of some aspects of it which suggested an approach like that of Agag, who trod delicately. The same was true of the neutrality of Israel, under joint guarantees from the USSR and the USA. We could do little more than state this at that time as an end- product, since here too there were uncertainties in issues where precipitate judgment could have been prejudicial. We are now able to go more fully into the process which led to the establishment of an autonomous Palestinian state and the stabilization of Israeli frontiers under guarantee, though the reader will note that the great powers came very near to such conflict over this issue as could have caused the Third World War to break out at least a year before it did.
In Central America and the Caribbean there was also danger of a premature explosion. There has now been developing a Latin-American community (in which a non-communist Cuba plays a critically important role), with the interest and support of the United States but with no intent on its part of total dominance. These matters were at a delicate stage when we last wrote. We can now report more freely on the development of this regional entity as it grows in robustness. It emerged in circumstances so dangerous that the USSR was almost able to secure the defeat of NATO before a shot was fired on the Central Front. We can now examine why.
In the Middle East, in North Africa (where the extinction of over-ambition in Libya was received with almost worldwide acclamation), in southern Africa, and in the Far East we are also now able to take the story further.
In the strictly military sphere, we have been able, with more information, to make some adjustment to the record. This is particularly important where the course of events is considered from the Soviet side. There is now
