The Effects of Passive Defense in Modern NBCWarfare

The widespread application of nuclear, biological and chemical agents in wars and terrorist attacksthroughout past twenty years has displayed that the threat of such agents still exists and is increasing as well. At present, the advanced and new NBC doctrines proposed in 2002 in western countries especially among NATO members, have usually three different levels as follows [1,2,3]: counterforce active defense passive defenseIt is noteworthy to mention that NATO, in its new doctrine, has followed the "passive defense" approach regarding weapons of mass destruction (WMD). But some of the NATO membering countries, especially America and England, make use of another approach. The "deterring force" is based on strengthening international Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaties (NPT) and protocols of weapons of mass destruction and using different leverages to prevent the advent of NBC weaponsrelated technologies (or their development) to certain countries [1,2,3]. The passive defense approach in countering NBC weapons of mass destruction is based on the following three principles:1. contamination avoidance (detection, reporting and warning)2. protection and safety against modern warfare agents3. decontamination of modern warfare agentsIn this article, the approaches of different countries to counter NBC weapons have been reviewed using descriptive study method and is based on the assumption that enemy's deterrence of modern warfare weapons application is largely dependent on the effective preparedness of defense forces. Another important factor which can play a role in deterrence is achieving a high level of science and technology to increase the defensive capabilities against modern warfare weapons. Moreover, by reviewing the principles of modern warfare passive defense including detection and measurement, protection and safety and decontamination, we will present the effects of vulnerability mitigation of these principles against NBC modern warfare weapons, as well.