§ Mr. MacdonaldTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for the Western Isles, of 11 December,Official Report, column 497, what other military functions, apart from training, versions and variants of NATO combat aircraft have been modified to perform.
§ Mr. WaldegraveNATO combat aircraft have been modified to perform a variety of functions. In the case of the United Kingdom, roles of various RAF squadrons are set out in annex C of the statements on the defence Estimates of 1989 (CM 675/1).
§ Mr. MacdonaldTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for the Western Isles, of 14 December,Official Report, column 762, when the United Kingdom will provide information on the types of each of the main categories of weapon equipment holdings to the conventional forces in Europe negotiations; and if he will make this information available to Parliament.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThe proposals that NATO has tabled in the CFE negotiations in Vienna envisage an exchange of information on national holdings between parties on signature of a treaty. The information provided by the United Kingdom will be made available to the House.
§ Mr. MacdonaldTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether any of the aircraft in storage that are included in the current NATO total of 6,700 combat aircraft are in addition to those mentioned in footnote 4, page 27 of Conventional Forces in Europe: The Facts.
§ Mr. WaldegraveYes.
§ Mr. MacdonaldTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether any of the combat-capable training aircraft included in the current NATO total of 6,700 combat aircraft are in addition to those mentioned in footnote 5 of page 27 of Conventional Forces in Europe: The Facts.
§ Mr. WaldegraveYes.
§ Mr. MacdonaldTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will list 509W the specific types of combat aircraft that have been included in the overall total of 6,700 NATO combat aircraft that are in addition to those itemised in page 27 of Conventional Forces in Europe: The Facts.
§ Mr. WaldegraveAs explained in footnotes 4 and 5 on page 27 of Conventional Forces in Europe: The Facts, the figures for NATO combat aircraft do not include combat-capable trainers and aircraft in storage. Those aircraft, together with versions and variants of types listed in footnote 1 which have another military function between them, raise the NATO total to 6,600. The definition of such aircraft was given in my reply to the hon. Member for Western Isles on 11 December.