Nuclear weapons flexible response

The likelihood that British strategy would place less emphasis on the deterrent was increased by the appointment in 1959 of Mountbatten as CDS, given the doubts he had expressed the previous year about whether the West would ever use nuclear weapons. The 1961 Defence White Paper pointed out that many of Britain s most important responsibilities were not concerned with direct deterrence of nuclear war but rather with the checking of small conflicts that might develop into one. There was a need for rapid-reaction forces capable of dealing with a whole spectrum of possible aggression and military threats. The 1962 Defence White Paper stressed the need for NATO forces and strategy to be balanced and flexible, and noted the re-equipment of the army with... 

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