§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what evidence he has of the extent to which the battlefield missile warheads designed for thickened VX nerve gas displayed at Shickany by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were obsolete technology; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Ian Stewart[holding answer 30 November 1987]: I refer the hon. Member to the statement by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence on 27 October 1987, at column 211. The weapons and equipment on display during the visit to Shikhany in October this year, including the warheads to which the hon. Member refers, generally dated from the 1950s, but we have no reason to believe that they are not still in service with Soviet forces.