Word: materiel
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...They are foreign policy writ large." No longer content with surplus materiel from the arsenals of the superpowers, smaller nations are demanding state-of-the-art equipment in everything from fighters to frigates. Even as they deplore the buildup and fear its consequences, the major arms sellers echo the old dirge of 19th century slave traders: "If we don't sell, someone else will." The only effective restraint on the seller, it seems, is the difficulty in beating competitors to the most lucrative contracts...
Right now, however, the R.D.F. seems to be planning for Mission Impossible. Its orders are to concentrate initially on countering a Soviet invasion of Iran. Kelley reluctantly admits that the R.D.F. has no hope of pouring in enough men and materiel to halt the substantial forces that the U.S.S.R. could thrust across its border with Iran. The best the R.D.F. could do would be to land a small "tripwire" force around the oilfields in southern Iran, which the Soviets could not crash through without inviting either massive bombing attacks by American B-52s and FB-111s flying from forward bases...
...Iraqi surprise attack bogged down? Military analysts had several answers. One was that the Iraqis were following a plodding. Soviet-inspired strategy requiring large quantities of cumbersome materiel that hampered rapid troop movements. Another was that the overconfident Iraqis had misjudged Iran's capacity to resist and had prepared themselves only for a brief blitzkrieg. A further Iraqi miscalculation was to assume that the Khomeini regime would crumble at the first military attack because of internal dissensions...
Tehran's leaders probably realize that they could not swiftly recover all the frozen assets. Their most immediate interest may be the reopening of a supply channel for spare parts and ammunition for Iran's U.S.-built arms and materiel. If and when the trade embargo is lifted, there would be no legal obstacle to the shipment of $550 million worth of impounded military equipment ordered and paid for by the Shah...
...principal move was to sign a 20-year friendship treaty with Syria two weeks ago. Israeli officials, TIME has learned, believe that the pact includes a secret annex granting the U.S.S.R. naval facilities at the Syrian port of Latakia, airbases manned by Soviet personnel, and depots for storing war materiel. If this intelligence is correct, the Soviets may have added a pawn or two to their side of the board in the chess game they are playing with the U.S. in the area. The U.S. earlier this year negotiated agreements for access to military facilities in Kenya, Somalia and Oman...