p The economic, scientific and moral-political potentials influence the course of the war and military operations differently. The influence they exert is determined by the nature of these potentials, by the character of their relation with the various aspects of the war and, notably, with the armed struggle. The military potential plays a special role in this relation. Being derivative from the economic conditions and the scientific and moral-political potentials, the military potential in its turn determines the military power of the state (coalition), is its most important aspect. It expresses the maximum ability of the state to maintain and improve its armed forces, to raise their combat power, to man them with trained personnel and supply them with modern military equipment and all sorts of materials, especially in wartime.

p A specific feature of the military potential is that it is a direct, leading element of the military power. The radical changes in social development influence the military potential both through the economic, scientific and moral-political potentials, and directly. As its content changes the military potential acquires a new form and role.

p Another specific feature of the military potential is that it is embodied directly in the armed forces, in their combat power. Combat power is the measure of the ability possessed by the armed forces to strike blows at the enemy and to rebuff his blows, is the degree of the armed forces’ combat readiness. In modern conditions the combat efficiency and combat readiness of the armed forces have become particularly 324 important because with the beginning of war the combat operations of the troops, especially of the strategic rocket troops, will have to play a decisive role and their result will determine the subsequent course of the war. Contrary to the views held by some bourgeois military experts, this does not mean that the role of mobilisation and the deployment of troops during the war will be reduced to naught. The military potential therefore includes the combat power of the existing armed forces and also the military-rnobilisational possibilities of the state (coalition).

p Combat power is an organic unity of a number of factors, elements or aspects of the armed forces’ life and activity. All of them can fulfil their role only if they are connected with each other, and they are all derivative of the economic, scientific, socio-political and ideological conditions.

p At the same time elements of the armed forces’ combat power possess a certain independence. These elements are both material and spiritual ones, including the technical equipment (military equipment and weapons), the fire power and mobility of the troops, their number, their organisation and training, the commanding cadres, military science and the army’s morale.

Among the conditions affecting the military power as a whole and the military potential in particular, the combat power of the armed forces and its elements, a special role is played by the modern revolution in the military field. It lends a qualitatively new content to the military potential, to the elements of the troops’ combat power, to military science and the art of war.