AAFCE Central Europe
AAM Air to Air Missile(s)
ABM anti-Ballistic Missile
ACLANT Allied Command Atlantic
AEW airborne early warning
AFCENT Allied Forces Central Europe
AFNORTH Allied Forces Northern Europe
AFSOUTH Allied Forces Southern Europe
AFV armoured fighting vehicle(s)
AI Air Intercept
AIRCENT Allied Air Forces Central Europe
AIRSOUTH Southern Europe
ALCM air-launched cruise missile(s)
ANC African National Congress
ANG Atlantique nouvelle generation (French ASW aircraft)
APC armoured personnel-carrier(s)
ARM anti-radiation missile
ASEAN Association of South-East Asian Nations
ASW anti-submarine warfare
ATAF Allied Tactical Air Force
ATFS automatic terrain following system
ATGW anti-tank guided weapon(s)
AWACS airborne warning and control system
BATES battlefield artillery target engagement system
BMP boevaya mashina pekhoty (Soviet infantry combat vehicle)
BTR bronetransporter (Soviet APC)
CAFDA Commandement Air de Forces de Defence Aeriennes
CAP combat air patrol(s)
CCP Chinese Communist Party
CENTAG Central Army Group
CEP circular error probable
CINCEASTLANT Commander-in-Chief, Eastern Atlantic
CINCENT Commander-in-Chief, Central Region
CINCHAN Commander-in-Chief, Channel
CINCNORTH Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Northern Europe
CINCSOUTH Commander-in-Chief, Allied Forces Southern Europe
CINCUKAIR Commander-in-Chief, United Kingdom Air Forces
CINCUSNAVEUR Commander-in-Chief, US Navy Europe
CINCWESTLANT Commander-in-Chief, Western Atlantic
CMP counter-military potential
COB co-located base(s)
COMAAFCE Commander Allied Air Forces Central Europe
COMBALTAP Commander Allied Forces Baltic Approaches
COMECON Council for Mutual and Economic Aid
CPA Czechoslovak People’s Army
CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union
CW Chemical Warfare
DIA Defence Intelligence Agency
DIVADS divisional air defence system
EASTLANT Eastern Atlantic
ECM electronic counter-measures
ECCM electronic counter-counter- measures
ELINT electronic intelligence
EMP electro-magnetic pulse
ENG electronic newsgathering
ESM electronic support measure(s)
EWO electronic warfare officer(s)
FBS forward based systems
FEBA forward edge of the battle area
FNLA Angolan National Liberation Front
FRELIMO Mozambique Liberation Front
FRG Federal Republic of Germany
FROG free-range over ground (SSM)
FY fiscal year
GAF German Air Force
GDR (DDR) German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik)
GLCM ground-launched cruise missile(s)
GNP gross national product
GRU Glavnoye Razedivatelnoe Upravlenie (Soviet Military Intelligence)
GSFG Group of Soviet Forces in Germany Group
HARM high speed anti-radiation missile
HAS hardened aircraft shelter
HAWK homing killer all the way (SAM)
HE high-explosive
HOT high-subsonic optically teleguided (ATM)
ICBM inter-continental ballistic missile(s)
I/D interceptor/destroyer
IFF identification friend or foe
IGB inner German border
INLA Irish National Liberation Army
IONA Isles of the North Atlantic
IR infra-red
JACWA Joint Allied Command Western Approaches
JTIDS Joint Tactical Information Distribution System
KGB Komitet Gosudarstrennoi Bezaposnosti (Soviet secret police)
LAW light-armour weapon
LRMP long-range maritime patrol(s)
MAD mutual assured destruction
MCM mine counter-measures
MIDS multi-functional information distribution system
MIRV multiple individually targeted re-entry vehicle(s)
MLRS multiple-launch rocket system
MNR Mozambique National Resistance
MPLA Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola
MRCA multiple role combat aircraft
MRUSTAS medium-range unmanned aerial surveillance & targeting system
NAAFI Navy, Army & Air Force Institutes
NADGE NATO air-defence ground environment
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NCO non-commissioned officer
NORTHAG Northern Army Group
NPA National People’s Army
OAS Organization of American States
OAU Organization for African Unity
ODCA Organization Democratica Cristiana de America
PACAF Pacific Air Force
PLA People’s Liberation Army
PLSS precision location strike system
RAAMS remote anti-armour mine system
RDM remotely delivered mine(s)
REMBAS remotely monitored battlefield sensor system
RPV remotely-piloted vehicle(s)
RWR radar warning receiver
SAC Strategic Air Command
SACEUR Supreme Allied Commander Europe
SACLANT Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic
SADARM seek and destroy armour (ATGW)
SAF Soviet Air Force
SALT Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
SAM surface-to-air missile(s)
SHAPE Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers in Europe
SHQ squadron headquarters
Sitrep situation report
SLBM submarine-launched ballistic missile(s)
SLCM submarine-launched cruise missile(s)
SLEP service life extension programme
SNAF Soviet Naval Air Force
SOTAS stand-off target acquisition system
SOUTHAG Southern Army Group
SP self-propelled
SRF Strategic Rocket Forces (Soviet)
SSBN submarine(s), strategic ballistic nuclear
SSGN submarine(s), guided missile nuclear
SSM surface-to-surface missile(s)
SSN submarine(s), nuclear
START Strategic Arms Reduction Talks
SURTASS surface-towed array sensor system
SWAPO South-west Africa People’s Organization
TACEVAL tactical evaluation
TACFIRE tactical fire direction
TACTASS tactical towed array sonar system
TAWDS target acquisition and weapon delivery system
TERCOM terrain contour matching (guidance system)
TNF theatre nuclear force(s)
TOW tube launched optically tracked wire guided (ATGW)
UKAD United Kingdom Air Defence
UNIFIL United Nations Force in Lebanon
UNFISMATRECO United Nations Fissile Materials Recovery Organization
UNITA National Union for the Total Independence of Angola
USAF United States Air Force
USAFE United States Air Force Europe
USAREUR United States Army in Europe
VELA velocity and angle of attack
V/STOL vertical/short take-off and landing
WESTLANT Western Atlantic
ZANLA Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army
ZIPRA Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army
Earlier this year, at Eastertide in 1987, we, a group of Britons deeply aware of how narrowly such freedoms as the Western world enjoys had been able to survive the onslaught upon them of the enemies of freedom in August 1985, completed a book about the causes, course and outcome of the Third World War. In the prologue to that book (a short piece of writing of which every word stands as firmly today, six months later, as it did then, and perhaps deserves re-reading) we wrote: ‘Much will be said and written about these events in years to come, as further sources come to light and further thought is given to this momentous passage in the history of our world.’ A good deal more information has indeed become available since then.
The belligerent involvement of Sweden and Ireland, for example, was passed over in our first book, not through unawareness of its importance but through uncertainty about the political implications of some aspects of it which suggested an approach like that of Agag, who trod delicately. The same was true of the neutrality of Israel, under joint guarantees from the USSR and the USA. We could do little more than state this at that time as an end-product, since here too there were uncertainties in issues where precipitate judgment could have been prejudicial. We are now able to go more fully into the process which led to the establishment of an autonomous Palestinian state and the stabilization of Israeli frontiers under guarantee, though the reader will note that the great powers came very near to such conflict over this issue as could have caused the Third World War to break out at least a year before it did.