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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Soviet Union
Index
The Air Defense Forces, known until their l980 reorganization
as the National Air Defense Forces, was the one service whose
mission was almost entirely defensive
(see Air Defense Forces
, ch.
18). These forces were to protect the country from nuclear attack.
Formed in 1948 to counter the threat of strategic bombers, the
National Air Defense Forces had no capability against ballistic
missiles, which became the main threat in the l960s. The preemptive
mission of the Strategic Rocket Forces filled this gap and
lightened the burden of the National Air Defense Forces.
The principal mission of the Air Defense Forces has remained
practically unchanged since the 1950s. However, according to
Sokolovskii's Military Strategy, air defense included both
defense against ballistic missiles and space defense. In l989 one
antiballistic missile site around Moscow protected both the capital
and the National Command Authority housed there. Extensive Soviet
research on defense against ballistic missiles, however, pointed to
a possible change in Soviet reliance on strategic offense.
In addition to the active defense that the mission of the Air
Defense Forces has called for, the Soviet Union has invested
heavily in civil defense. The declared mission of civil defense has
been to provide "reliable protection for the population against
weapons of mass destruction in wartime" through construction of
shelters for the leadership, hardening and dispersal of industry,
and evacuation of leadership and civilians from cities. Such
efforts continued in the l980s, despite civilian leaders'
statements denying the viability of defense against nuclear weapons
and acknowledging that nuclear war would be suicidal.
Data as of May 1989
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