§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what margin of error is attached to his Department's estimate of size of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic's chemical weapon stockpile.
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§ Mr. Ian Stewart[holding answer 30 November 1987]: I have nothing to add to the reply I gave to the hon. Member on 9 November, at column 36.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has as to whether any North Altantic Treaty Organisation country is prepared to display publicly its chemical weapon munitions; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Ian Stewart[holding answer 30 November 1987]: The full range of current US Army CW munitions, including a mock-up of the 155mm binary projectile, was displayed in the course of a visit in November this year by a Soviet delegation to the US CW destruction facility at Tooele, Utah. Observers from a number of countries, including representatives of conference on disarmament members, also visited Tooele in 1983.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will provide his latest estimate of the United States' chemical weapons capability.
§ Mr. Ian Stewart[holding answer 30 November 1987]: It would be inappropriate for me to comment in detail on the defence capabilities of an ally. As is well known, however, through publications such as the US Secretary of Defence's annual report to Congress, the US has a limited and aging retaliatory CW capability which they plan to modernise.
§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what information he has as to whether the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has added to its stockpile of chemical weapons since the size of its arsenal was first estimated as being 300,000 agent tonnes; and when this figure was first estimated by him.
§ Mr. Ian Stewart[holding answer 30 November 1987]: Our assessment that the Soviet Union's stockpile of chemical weapons included some 300,000 tonnes of nerve agent alone was first made in the early 1970s. We now assess this to be a minimum figure.