Central European Front

HC Deb 03 December 1974 vol 882 c440W

Mr. Trotter

asked the Secretary of State for Defence what is his estimate of the extent to which NATO air and ground forces on the central European front are outnumbered by the forces of the Warsaw Pact in terms of army divisions, tanks and aircraft, and how the present balance compares with that existing in 1964.

Mr. Mason

The estimates for 1974 are as follows:

Divisions	…	…	…	2.3 to 1
Tanks	…	…	…	25 to 1
Aircraft	…	…	…	2 to 1

I regret that no comparable estimates are available for 1964.

The estimated Warsaw Pact superiority in divisions shown above is misleading, because Warsaw Pact and NATO divisions do not have the same composition and size. As I said in the defence debate on 2nd July, in terms of manpower the Warsaw Pact has between 30 per cent. and 40 per cent. more soldiers in fighting units than NATO in central Europe.