Hoisted from Comments: The Euromissiles of the 1980s

Ian Whitchurch writes, apropos of the Euromissiles of the 1980s:

Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal: "Looking Tough" Is Not a Plan--Well, Not a Good Plan Anyway: I'm not sure I'd agree with

"The IRBMs did not add to NATO's strategic options: they could do nothing that Trident missiles could not do at least as effectively."

They did present an option that the Soviet SS-20 (etc) did not - the ability to do a non-ballistic and thus low-warning decapitation strike against hardened command targets.

By definition, this would be a first strike.

That was the disparity between Cruise/Pershing and the SS20. The SS20 could not destroy Washington or Cheyenne Mountain etc.