§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether SDI-financed, non-NATO work in Britain (including work done by the Ministry of Defence) on anti-tactical ballistic missile defence and on European architecture will continue if 1126WA the INF agreement is concluded; and, if so, whether they consider that it would be a good use of British scientific manpower given NATO's own air defence requirements.
§ Lord TrefgarneThe answer is yes to both parts of the question. The US-funded and MoD-led European architecture study is about to enter its final phase; and the US recently awarded contracts to five industrial consortia, which include UK companies, for Phase 2 of the "Theater Missile Defense Architecture Study" as it is called. Additional work may be commissioned to review the conclusions of all these studies to take account of a situation in which there are no missiles of the classes covered by an INF agreement. The analytical tools developed in the course of the studies have the potential to contribute to the examination of questions relevant to NATO air defence requirements.