Perestroika and Change in Soviet Weapons ... - The Black Vault

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PREFACE
The RAND Coroation is providing nalyt assistance to the Office
of the Under Secretuy of Defense for Policy on the subject of recent
d&vepment. in Sovie military airs. Th two-ya effort seks to
idxst and e o ai the mor elements of continuty end chans in
Soviet militar oraniuatio, concepts, and goals sinc the emerence of
President Gorbachev and bis *new political thinking ' It looks beyond
the reo otfgb~os and t to th und motvatiom tht
account for the mmy dopatu that hve lt occurred in sch are
as Sovie declaratory rhetoric, operational doctrimne atoal security
deciionmakln& and defns resource allocation.
This report rviws two major imsss The firt is the application of
dens indty resources to civilian useo-commonly called "*convuson.'
This review place the ongoig pcess in a broader economic,
ora inal, and political context. However, snce the process continues
to unfokl, often m unplanned ways, wm guidelines are giv
for ealting the shifting picture of Soviet behavior. The second issue
involvu the effects of contempoary weapon technolog and complxity
on the abdt of the Soviet Union to den, develop, and produe
nmiay system that meet the requrements of the military.
The research reporte here was couducted in the International Security
and DA Policy program of RAND's National Defense Research
Inttute a f dally fndd research and developumt center sponsored
by the Office of the Secretary of Defen and the Joint Chief of Staff. It
should be of interest to members of the U.S. defense policy community
concerned ith evolin Soviet military policy, civimnmilitary mkd =
defense policy-formukation, and arm control behavior.
The cutoff dat for this research is the end of 190.
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