Norstad plan

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Lauris Norstad 1945

Norstad Plan refers to the plan drafted and proposed in 1960 by Lauris Norstad (1907–1988), then NATO Commander in Chief in Europe ( SACEUR ), to make NATO a “fourth nuclear power”.

In doing so, NATO as an organization and ultimately all of its member states should be given control over the nuclear weapons that would have been assigned to it. So far, within the framework of nuclear participation, the NATO countries have been involved in nuclear planning and equipped with nuclear vehicles, but the power of disposal over the nuclear warheads and the ultimate decision-making power over the use of nuclear weapons have remained the responsibility of the manufacturer state (mostly the USA ). The idea of ​​the so-called Multilateral Force (MLF) later developed from the Norstad Plan . Both were not implemented.

One of the aims of Lauris Norstad's approach was to expand SACEUR's nuclear scope of action. If its nuclear potential had previously consisted of ground-to-ground weapon systems and fighter-bombers , whose launch bases and air bases were easily vulnerable, the Norstad plan would have expanded these to include medium-range missiles stationed on ships .

literature

  • Bruno Thoss : NATO strategy and national defense planning. Planning and building the Bundeswehr under the conditions of a massive nuclear retaliation strategy. 1952 to 1960 (Security Policy and Armed Forces of the FRG; Vol. 1). Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-486-57904-8 .
  • Christian Tuschhoff: Germany, nuclear weapons and NATO 1949–1967. On the cohesion of and peaceful change in alliances (International Politics and Security; Vol. 30). Nomos VG, Baden-Baden 2002, ISBN 3-7890-8274-0 (additional habilitation thesis, FU Berlin).

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