§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Defence how many megatons of attacking missiles he estimates would be likely to be needed to destroy the cruise missiles which it is proposed to deploy in the United Kingdom on the assumption that they had then been dispersed.
§ Mr. PattieThe precise total yield required would depend on the nature of the terrain over which the GLCMs were dispersed and the yields of individual warheads. To destroy the force would require an attack tantamount to all-out nuclear war; as long as NATO possesses invulnerable retaliatory forces like Polaris, it is most unlikely that such an attack will be launched against GLCMs. But it is very broadly estimated that more than 1,000 megatons would be required to ensure their destruction.
1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 (provisional) £ £ £ £ £ Council of Europe 3,017,266 3,267,515 3,811,274 3,885,560 3,988,354 Western European Union 540,561 565,866 667,169 730,546 749,738 North Atlantic Assembly 81,146 102,625 116,392 112,512 107,660