Soviet Military Power: The Pentagon's Propaganda Document, Annotated and Corrected

by Tom Gervasi

Corrects information provided by the Pentagon to support their requests for increased government spending and argues that the current administration is deliberately misleading the public

Genres: Nonfiction

168 pages, Paperback

First published January 12, 1988

Reviews

[Chris Esposo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having had this book for literally decades now, this book has strangely become more relevant recently with the advent of events which preludes a nascent second Cold War, though not with the USSR/Russia, but with the PRC/China this time around. Previously, I read this book (first as a child), to inform my imagination and wargaming, and for that purpose, this book is a great start. Not only does it provide the weapons designation for both sides of the Cold War (w/ the NATO designation of Soviet weaponry), but there are smartly produced hand-drawn illustrations of scenes/scenarios the weaponry would be deployed in (this was before the era of computer graphics and photorealistic renderings). Further, details on Soviet satellite coverage, and theater-level plans (TVDs) for a third world war against NATO forces are both illustrated and elucidated on, enough to satisfy any 90s-era amateur war-gamer/Tom Clancy wannabe.

Of course, the purpose of the book is not to serve as a reference to wargaming, but to show how the DoD report on Soviet Military Power was grossly fallacious, and self-servingly biased to make the Soviet equipment (and plans) look more ominous that it really was, while simultaneously making NATO weaponry/equipment/plans look as feeble as possible, all for the purpose of providing a central artifact to lobby congress (and other Western legislative bodies) for more capital to invest in on weapon systems (and more important , the oligpololist that provide those systems).

An upward bias on Soviet equipment could be faulted on inferior intelligence. Though in many cases, the upward bound was literally 100% the actual capacity (i.e. range, speed, energy impact etc.) of the Soviet equipment, so from a post-War on Terror standpoint, it seems like substandard US intelligence is not a recent phenomenon at the very least. However, reducing NATO equipment capacity by as much as 50% in some munitions is much more suspicious, and far less excusable, and points towards purposeful manipulation of the facts. Given the industrial-capture experienced in US defense, by defense oligopolist, this is almost a slam-dunk case pointing towards that effect. Unfortunately, the problem has only gotten worst since the publishing of this book, with the F-35 being the latest example of the results of that capture.

Several observations in this book are prescient, specifically on the incapability of Soviet-era carriers vis-a-vis US supercarriers. Apparently the DoD report was warning analyst in the mid-80s on the challenges faced by the new cadres of Soviet carriers then being produced, including the future flagship, the Leonoid Breshnev. This was later renamed the Admiral Kustenov, and serve as a capital vessel in the modern Russian navy. A vessel, that suffers from many technical problems. Likewise, a sister ship served as scaffolding and template for the first 2 generation of Chinese PLAN carriers, which are in service now. And as the author of this book attested then, these vessels cannot be conceived as realistic offensive force projectors vis-a-vis the US Navy's vessels.

Overall, this is a great piece of history, and a deserves a thorough reading. It's good for both historical Cold War enthusiast/professional historians, as well as input for current analysis on how similar tactics could be deployed in the modern Cold War vis-a-vis China. Recommended.

[PhattandyPDX · Rating 5 out of 5]

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