USSR CUBA FORCE CLOUDS DEBATE ON SALT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400350092-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2004
• Sequence Number: 92
• Publication Date: September 10, 1979
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

Approved For Release 2005/01/12: CIA-RDP88-01315R00040g0V2-9 ",'S6," C
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AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY
AVIATION
10 September 1979
U. S. officials insist brigade-size troop unit constitutes
no offensive threat, but senators link removal to treaty
By Clarence A. Robinson, Jr.
Washington-Public reaction to the presence of a brigade-size Soviet force-including
satellite communications experts-based in Cuba is becoming a significant new element
in Senate debate on whether Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty 2 should be ratified.
The fate of the strategic arms agreements may hinge on the success of the Carter
Administration in forcing the USSR to withdraw its troops from the island.
U. S. officials said last week that the
Russian forces in Cuba are positioned
there for several reasons, but that none of
them are believed for offensive excursions
in the Western Hemisphere because the
Russian brigade is at the end of the Soviet
supply line. Reasons for basing the force
in Cuba arc believed to include:
a Protection.of a wide range of Soviet
early warning radar equipment and a
satellite control and monitoring station for
reconnaissance and early warning space-
Cuban forces, considered less than ade-
quate in some African battles.
a Demonstration to Third World na-
tions that the balance of power has tipped
in favor of the USSR. U. S. experts
believe it will be difficult if not impossible
to get the force removed, making it a
symbol of Soviet freedom of action and
thus providing a psychological effect in
Central and South America.
:1 Defense of large dish type antennas
associated with electronic intelligence.
The location and composition of equip-
ment operated by the Soviets in Cuba. is to
intercept International Telecommunica-
tions Satellite Organization traffic from
the spacecraft over the Atlantic Ocean.
The Defense Dept. rents channels on the
spacecraft for communications.
U.S. officials are blaming President
Carter for the inability of the intelligence
Soviet AG-23~ variable-yeemetry -air defense interceptors fly in other in the ground attack role equipped with Mit3-27s, a version of
esigned -
formation above USSR/East German Long Talk surveillance and the MiG-23 known as the Flogger D. The Flogger has been designed-
craft over the Western Hemisphere.. A
Soviet satellite ground facility is located at
Torrens, near Pinar del Rio.
a Use of an armored and defensive
artillery battalion to defend Soviet MiG-
23 Flogger air defense interceptor and
MiG-27 strike fighter aircraft operating in
Cuba with Soviet pilots.
a Training Cuban forces by conducting
combined Soviet-Cuban army operations
to improve the combat performance of
A
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