EAST-WEST: Probing NATO's Northern Flank

On the average of three times monthly, a Soviet Tu-16 "Badger" reconnaissance jet roars off from the world's largest military base, just outside Murmansk, and heads westward to probe Norway's air defenses. Alerted by radar, a vast ultramodern command center in the craggy mountain range of northern Norway scrambles two Norwegian Royal Air Force F-104G Starfighters. The fighters usually intercept the Badger within a few minutes; one of them hangs off the Soviet craft's tail, while the other flies just ahead of its nose. The lead Norwegian Starfighter will then waggle its wings in a signal to the Soviet pilot to turn back before he has violated Norwegian airspace. If the Russian ignores the warning, the Norwegian leader will, in response, slip under the Tu-16's wings and then gently raise his wing to within inches of the Soviet plane, forcing the intruder to turn back. Explains a Norwegian air force colonel: "The Russian pilot knows that the fighter on his tail can blast him to bits if he doesn't obey fast."

NATO's northern flank is being probed with increasing frequency these days by Soviet forces. In addition to the dangerous game of chicken played in the air by Moscow's reconnaissance planes, Soviet warships in mounting numbers maneuver perilously close to the Danish and Norwegian coasts. The Soviet muscle flexing near the desolate Arctic Circle worries Western military officials. Warns Supreme Allied Commander in Europe Alexander M. Haig: "If you look at the current situation of strategic parity, it is evident that we are not going to be faced in the short term with a major onslaught across the eastern frontiers. We are going to be plagued by those ambiguous situations on the flanks." Says

Anders C. Sjaastad, research associate of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs: "The Soviets have changed their stance, from a defensive to an offensive posture."

The greater pressure is on Norway. Up until now, the pattern has been for the Soviet navy to hold major exercises off the Norwegian coast twice a year. Last week, for the second time in less than three months, units of the Russian navy—including the new star of the Soviet fleet, the 40,000-ton aircraft carrier Kiev—took part in practice maneuvers in the northern Norwegian sea. The exercise included an unusually strong display of air capability. The 40 or so ships and 30 submarines involved in the operation were only part of the Murmansk-based Soviet Northern Fleet, which includes 51 major surface vessels and 180 subs. On the Kola Peninsula, the Soviets regularly carry out increasingly sophisticated amphibious exercises. The silhouettes of Soviet nuclear submarines have been spotted gliding quietly in many of Norway's fjords.

The doughty Norwegians also have become embroiled in a series of diplomatic and territorial disputes with their giant neighbor. The touchiest is the issue of how to establish their areas of control in the Barents Sea and its continental shelf. Not only do the Soviets want to protect their strategic position around Murmansk, they also seek increased fishing rights and access to the potential oil and gas reserves in the 59,870 sq. mi. under dispute. After seven years of negotiations on the question, says a Norwegian diplomat, "we've got absolutely nowhere."