§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many personnel were deployed on the NATO joint exercise in Norway carried out between 1 April 1997 and 31 March 1998; and what was the cost of the exercise. [72833]
§ Mr. Spellar[holding answer 1 March 1999]: Exercise Strong Resolve, which took place in March 1998 jointly in Norway and Portugal, consisted of two halves; exercise Crisis North, in Norway, and exercise Crisis South, in Portugal. Members of the armed forces of the following nations participated in the Northern half of Strong Resolve, Crisis North; Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway,
140WTurkey, the UK and the US. The aim of the exercise was to practise multi-battery, multi-national firing, training and tactics, in conjunction with close air support, and I understand that the exercise succeeded in its objectives. The total cost of the exercise is not held centrally by NATO but the cost of the UK participation was £623,000, excluding the cost of ammunition and spares consumed during the exercise as these costs are not separately identified.