Soviets Narrowing Technology Gap

Soviet military forces have narrowed the technological gap with the West in the last year, the International Institute for Strategic Studies reported today.

The institute also said there are grounds for a “measure of disquiet” about a U.S.-Soviet agreement to eliminate mid-range nuclear missiles from Europe.

The institute’s annual survey, “The Military Balance 1987-88,” said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has made “steady if unspectacular progress” in improving its forces but that no increase in spending can be expected.

“Increased sophistication with all its costs and benefits, continues to be displayed (by the Soviets), and the technological gap between East and West continues to narrow,” the institute said in a statement accompanying the survey.

The survey said the Soviets are constantly improving their fleet of 62 ballistic-missile nuclear submarines by replacing older vessels “in a program which is progressively increasing both the range and the warhead numbers of deployed submarine-launched ballistic missiles.”