§ 10. Mr. Rankinasked the Minister of Defence if he will state the nature and give the text of the safeguards which protect British national interests in the plan to put Fighter Command under North Atlantic Treaty Organisation control.
§ Mr. WatkinsonGreat Britain retains the right to decide the size, composition, rô le and deployment of their air defence forces assigned to SACEUR.
§ Mr. RankinMay we take it from that Answer that we will have complete control over the use of Fighter Command for non-N.A.T.O. purposes? Can the Minister tell us how many aircraft will be involved? Can he say how many Hunters and Lightnings and so on will be involved in this? If we can abstract our Fighter Command at any time for our purposes, how will that affect the purpose for which this integration is being made, which I presume is an attempt to provide defence in depth?
§ Mr. WatkinsonThe last part of the hon. Gentleman's supplementary question sums it up very well. It is entirely to deploy the defence in depth which the change in the air situation makes necessary. If he will be kind enough to study the words used in my original Answer, the hon. Gentleman will see that this gives us complete control over our own 380 fighter forces. For many years we have been pressing in N.A.T.O. not for integrated defence, but for unified air defence, and that is what we have now secured.