NATO Puts Off New Missiles in Bow to Bonn

NATO defense ministers, bowing to West German pressure, agreed Wednesday to defer a politically charged decision to deploy new short-range nuclear missiles in Europe.

Although the 14 defense ministers who make up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Nuclear Planning Group had previously agreed on the need to modernize existing short-range missiles, they sidestepped the question at a meeting in Brussels in a concession to West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who faces reelection next year.

The meeting marked Defense Secretary Dick Cheney’s introduction to NATO politics, which often requires leaders to say one thing for domestic consumption while doing precisely the opposite.

German leaders privately acknowledge the need to upgrade alliance weapons while publicly calling for their removal from German soil or for negotiations with the Soviets on reducing the overall level of armaments in Europe.

Rejects Soviet Talks

Cheney, speaking to reporters on his way to the two-day NATO meeting, vigorously rejected talks with the Soviets on short-range nuclear weapons, saying: “I would strenuously avoid the notion that we engage in negotiations on short-range nuclear forces. . . . Now is the time, I believe, to move forward on conventional forces.”

American officials believe that the time to negotiate reductions in nuclear weapons is after they have been updated, not before. Also, officials want to see how new conventional arms reductions talks proceed before bargaining away NATO’s ultimate insurance policy, nuclear weapons.

The defense ministers in essence reached a gentlemen’s agreement in advance of Wednesday’s meeting to select, develop and deploy a replacement for aging Lance missiles beginning in 1991 or 1992. The delay is intended to accommodate internal politics in West Germany, where the most of NATO’s short-range nuclear missiles are stationed.

The presence of nuclear-tipped weapons on German soil is a sensitive issue, especially in light of the popular appeal of Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s dramatic arms control initiatives.

A senior U.S. official attending the meetings here acknowledged that the NATO defense ministers had delayed a decision on deploying the missile, even as work continued at the Pentagon on developing the new weapon.

“The debate over SNF (short-range nuclear forces) is less a transatlantic issue than it is an issue driven by domestic debate in a number of European countries,” particularly West Germany and Belgium, the official, who demanded anonymity, said.

Nevertheless, he said, the United States will press ahead on developing a new version of the Lance missile, which has a range of about 80 miles.

The new missile, officials said, would have a range approaching 300 miles, the maximum permitted under the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed with the Soviet Union in December, 1987.

That treaty banned nuclear weapons with ranges between 300 and 3,400 miles.

Need Recognized

West German defense minister Rupert Scholtz told reporters Wednesday that his country recognizes the need to modernize NATO’s nuclear weapons. But, he said, “there is no necessity to take a decision now, at this meeting.”

In a shake-up of the West German Cabinet announced last week, Scholtz was removed from his post and replaced by former Finance Minister Gerhard Stoltenberg.

U.S. officials expressed irritation at the West Germans for balking at the modernization decision, but said they would continue to replace and upgrade a range of U.S. nuclear weapons based in Europe, include nuclear-tipped artillery shells, bombs and air-to-surface rockets. U.S. officials said that, despite their public denials, the Soviets are aggressively modernizing their short-range nuclear weapons targeted on Europe.

Such improvements are permitted under the INF treaty, U.S. officials noted, but said they provide further incentive for NATO to improve the range and accuracy of its weapons.

American officials presented the NATO defense ministers with new intelligence data showing that the Soviets are replacing their old Frog missiles with SS-21s and replacing their SS-23s, banned under the INF treaty, with shorter-range Scud missiles.

“They’re modernizing, we’re modernizing,” the official said.