Weapons, chemical tactical utility

The proliferation of chemical and biological weapons involves a spread in the possession of weapons or of the capability to produce them. Like nuclear proliferation, this phenomenon can have a vertical as well as a horizontal dimension - that is, it can involve the development, refinement, or accretion of weapons by the great powers as well as the spread of capabilities to countries outside the orbits of NATO and the former Warsaw Pact. It can also imply qualitative as much as quantitative developments, since the use of new agents or combinations of agents or new delivery systems could affect the tactical utility of chemical weapons or their effectiveness as a deterrent. 

The Soviet Union has the capability to deliver chemical munitions in ground, air, and naval combat. Just as in the Second World War, Soviet armed forces maintain a wide variety of potential delivery systems, including aerial bombs, spray tanks, tactical missiles, mines, rockets, artillery and mortar projectiles. The Department of Defense claims not only that the Soviets have such systems but that they have also developed the firing data on the utility of chemical weapons in battle situations , that is... 

At a time when mobilization of the Army was moving forward at a rapid pace, this order confronted the Chemical Warfare Service with difficult questions about the future of a substantial number of Reserve officers who had been trained for active duty with chemical regiments. Another consideration which affected these units was the decision, arrived at earlier that the regiment was not the most satisfactory type of wartime organization for special gas troops. Instead of the regiment, the battalion was determined to be the largest tactical unit that could be utilized effectively for controlling chemical weapons operations. 

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