So, were the Soviets just going to destroy the pipeline and then go home
or...
Was this just the start of an actual invasion ala Red Dawn and Amerika, where they were eventually going to move into the US and take over?
Nope, nothing that ambitious. The USA had stopped selling grain to the USSR (why, I don't remember, it's been ages since I saw the movie). The USSR planned to seize the pipeline's valve station to use it as leverage to get the USA to resume selling grain. (At the station it would be possible to put explosives in the pipeline and blow up a big piece of it.) This is something David Soul's character Col. Caffey correctly figured out halfway through the movie and passed on to his superiors.
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