Nuclear Weapons (Hansard, 2 June 1992)

§ Mr. Macdonald
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) how many nuclear free-fall bombs have been withdrawn from service to date;
(2) how many nuclear free-fall bombs are currently deployed by the Royal Air Force.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
It has been the practice of successive Governments not to specify publicly the size of our nuclear weapon holdings. The hon. Member will recall however that my right hon. Friend the Member for Bridgwater (Mr. King) announced on 14 October 1991,Official Report, column 58, that we should be making a substantial reduction in the numbers of our WE177 bombs in coming years. The process of withdrawing WE177 weapons from service in accordance with that announcement is under way.

§ Mr. Macdonald
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence for how long the United Kingdom's strategic nuclear deterrent will be maintained by a combined force of Trident and Polaris submarines.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
Trident will enter service progressively from the mid-1990s. It is not our practice to disclose details of operational deployments and decommissioning programmes.

§ Mr. Macdonald
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what plans his Department has to alter the level of warhead deployment for the United Kingdom's minimum strategic nuclear deterrent before the end of the century;
(2) if the criteria determining the level at which the United Kingdom's strategic nuclear deterrent is deployed will be different for Trident compared with Polaris.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
It will remain the Government's policy to deploy the minimum number of warheads necessary to ensure credible and effective deterrence.

§ Mr. Macdonald
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what are the implications for the continued538W credibility of the United Kingdom's strategic nuclear deterrent of the deployment of existing anti-ballistic missile systems around the world;
(2) what is his Department's assessment of the security implications for the United Kingdom's strategic nuclear deterrent of the acquisition by Russia of anti-ballistic missile technology and know-how from other states.

§ Mr. Archie Hamilton
We remain satisfied with the continuing credibility and effectiveness of our strategic nuclear deterrent. The possibility of future developments in anti-ballistic missile defence, however, confirms that wisdom of replacing Polaris with Trident.