FWIW,
Rainbow and I had this discussion a while back. I like to follow Webstrals timeline of events, I premise that the "Black Winter" so polarized Western public opinion against the Soviets/WP that the U.S. was almost forced to act (Thatcher even more forcefully tells Bush not to go "wobbly" !) At this point the Soviets are still dealing with mopping up the "Black Winter" plus there are now rumblings of discontent in the Baltic Republics (such as there were IRL). Iraq moves without the Soviets approval, which embarrasses their patron. In an effort to rehabilitate their public image after the "Black Winter" and to perhaps push a different headline into the front pages of the foreign press, the Soviets give the West a free hand concerning Iraq (of course on the understanding that there would be no regime change, which I think fits nicely into the IRL historical scenario).
As for the British Army, it is just doable IMHO. IRL the ENTIRE operational Challenger fleet was in the Gulf, all that was left in BAOR were hulks stripped of engines and needed equipment. I believe (don't have access to my notes at the moment) power pack production was at least doubled, all going to the Gulf. Now there were three Armd Rgts plus the majority of a fourth in two bdes in theatre by Jan 91. In 1990 there were twelve Armd Rgts in eight bdes in BAOR plus two Armd Rgts in the UK (one functioned as a demo/training unit). IMC I have all RAC Rgts not in the Gulf reduced to 3 Sabre Sqns (which is what each RAC fielded from 1945-1975. 4 Sqns came about during the Wide Horizon reorganization. This was supposed to go in 1982 those reforms were reversed but most kept four sqns) and all equipped/re-equipped with Chieftain (800-900 in stock in 1991. 7 Rgts had been converted to Challenger, the other 7 were Chieftain). I also have 5 RTR reforming, giving the British eleven Armd Rgts. with approx. 500 Chieftains operational. An additional Armd Bde formed and 1 Inf Bde (UKMF, IRL had a wartime deployment to Denmark but the CDS wanted to get rid of this commitment and redeploy it to BAOR ) deploys to BAOR, this takes care of replacing the two Bdes in the Gulf. Oh and BTW, you also need to count on a large recall to the colors of reservists ( a lot larger than IRL).
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