§ Mr. Douglasasked the Secretary of State for Defence how, in seeking by the deployment of cruise and Pershing missiles to match the threat of SS20 missiles. Her Majesty's Government and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation assess the relative capabilities of the systems involved in order to ensure a matching of the Soviet deployment.
§ Mr. BlakerNATO does not attempt to match Soviet weapon systems precisely by number or capability. If it is not possible to reach an agreement with the Russians in the Geneva INF negotiations which makes the deployment of cruise and Pershing II missiles unnecessary, they will be deployed in order to provide sufficient forces to deter the Soviet Union from threatening western Europe with intermediate range missiles based on Soviet territory.