§ Mr. Deakinsasked the Secretary of State for Defence what is the balance, as between Warsaw Pact and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, in land-based nuclear weapons stationed in Europe, taking account both of numbers of such weapons and of numbers of warheads; and what is the balance for sea-based nuclear weapons.
§ Mr. BlakerThe balance of all land and sea-based land attack nuclear capable systems in the European theatre at the end of 1980 is set out in figure 2 of the Statement on the Defence Estimates 1981 (Cmnd. 8212–1). Since then the Soviet Union has increased the number of its SS20 missiles, each with 3 warheads, facing Western Europe from 120 to about 170. As paragraphs 204–5 of Cmnd. 8212–1 explain, it is not possible, for a number of reasons, to make a numerical comparison of the balance of nuclear warheads.