Nuclear Weapons (Hansard, 29 June 1990)

§ Mr. Flynn
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the oral reply to the hon. Member for Dorset, South (Mr. Bruce), 15 May,Official Report, column 733, which other nations are trying to develop nuclear capability; and what verification problems there are outstanding in threshold nuclear weapons states.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol, West (Mr. Waldegrave) on 8 June 1990,Official Report, column 738.

§ Mr. Macdonald
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is NATO's policy on seeking full or partial reductions in the number of land-based, short-range nuclear weapons in the forthcoming arms negotiations on those weapons.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
Arms control remains an integral part of alliance security policy; NATO has therefore made clear that it endorses the United States intention to begin negotiations with the Soviet Union on short-range nuclear forces after the conclusion of a treaty limiting conventional forces in Europe.

§ Mr. Macdonald
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is his Department's latest assessment as to when NATO's existing short-range, land-based nuclear weapons will become unserviceable and obsolete.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
On current estimates it is believed that the Lance missile will be unsustainable much beyond the mid-1990s. Our dual capable artillery guns will be modernised with the introduction of the AS90 self-propelled 155 mm howitzer. However, the serviceability of the United States-owned nuclear warheads and shells for use with these systems is a matter for the United States Government.