Defense: The Dilemma & the Design

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Cold Reply. But it is no mere detail that Europeans are being asked to man, and help underwrite, an expensive weapon that they will never be able to use on their own without U.S. say-so. West Germany may not mind such an arrangement, says Charles de Gaulle, since it brings it into nuclear politics. But France minds. De Gaulle rejected the subsequent Anglo-American invitation to join in the NATO nuclear command, and is going ahead more determinedly than ever to develop his own force de frappe. White House staffers profess surprise at De Gaulle's anger over Nassau. They say that the idea of the multilateral NATO command was devised deliberately to include France. Besides, Kennedy invited De Gaulle to visit him in Florida at De Gaulle's convenience either before or after Nassau, and was coldly told that De Gaulle had nothing to discuss with Kennedy.

Actually, U.S. defense planners still see no real military need for a new nuclear force in NATO, since the U.S. striking power is so great. Used to big numbers, they dismiss De Gaulle's force as being less than 2% of the striking power of U.S. missiles and aircraft. But at that, De Gaulle's Mirage IV and Etendard IV planes will carry 50-kiloton bombs—more than twice the power of the bomb that leveled Hiroshima. As part of McNamara's conviction that the manned bomber will soon be obsolete, De Gaulle's force will be out of date before it is active—but McNamara will find argument inside his own Pentagon on that point.

Phantoms & Shivers. McNamara also wants a buildup of NATO's ground forces from the present 24 divisions (which include 400,000 U.S. troops) to a programmed 30 divisions. "We must continue to do everything in our power to persuade our allies to meet their NATO goals," he says, and he means De Gaulle most of all. "Until these capabilities are achieved, the defense of Europe against an all-out Soviet attack, even if such an attack were limited to non-nuclear means, would require the use of tactical nuclear weapons on our part." McNamara also is striving to increase NATO's tactical airpower, has approved the purchase of more than 1,000 supersonic Phantom II fighters to be used by the Air Force.

The manner in which Europe responds to its own future defense may well decide the success or failure of McNamara's five-year plan. That plan includes Polaris submarines with advanced missiles that nearly double their striking range to 2,500 miles. And to close the range gap between the Polaris and the 350-mile Pershing tactical missiles, McNamara has ordered research on a new medium-range missile that can be fired either from surface ships or mobile ground launchers. Through improved airlift, U.S. troops will be able to move much more rapidly to the world's trouble spots. Sealift for amphibious operations will be increased, but the future of the fleet is in question. McNamara recently sent shivers throughout the entire Navy when he said: "The entire question of the cost and capability of the fleet in relation to the cost of defending it against air attack is still in need of a most thorough analysis."