The Tank Gap Data Flap

To the Editors:A Although I agree with many of the viewpoints presented in the article by Malcolm Chalmers and Lutz Unterseher, There a Tank Gap? Comparing NATO and Warsaw Pact Tank Fleets,' in many respects they have overstated their case. Their depiction of the faults in Warsaw Pact tanks is too one-sided and simplistic. Their assertion that NATO tank modernization has outstripped Warsaw Pact modernization in numerical terms is based on very weak documentation. I am bothered by their heavy reliance on the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) annual Military Balance for the majority of their inventory figures. I have consistently found the Military Balance figures to be at odds with other more authoritative sources.2 By combining Military Balance figures with numbers from other sources, the authors suggest trends of dubious validity. For example in Table 1 (p. 8) of the article, the authors suggest an abrupt drop in Czech tank strength of 24 percent from 1981 to 1987. Is this an actual shift in Czech inventory, or simply a statistical fluke due to the use of two different sources? The former seems unlikely given

Computer security · Information gap · Political science · Computer Science · Defense, Military, and Policy Studies · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East

• Is There a Tank Gap

  Malcolm Chalmers, Lutz Unterseher•International Security•1988

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