HC Deb 29 March 1999 vol 328 c483W
Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what testing of depleted uranium weapons has taken place in Southern Scotland. [77356]

Mr. Doug Henderson

[holding answer 18 March 1999]: Since the test-firing of depleted uranium (DU) based ammunition was approved in 1979 all testing of such ammunition in southern Scotland has been conducted at Kirkcudbright and West Freugh (near Stanraer). The trials at West Freugh, which took place in 1988 and 1990, tested Vulcan Phalanx ammunition and were very limited in nature, with only 200 small calibre rounds (around 20kg) being fired. The testing of 120mm DU-based ammunition for the Challenger main battle tank, which takes place at Kirkcudbright, started in 1982. Since the end of the Challenger tank development programme in 1997 this testing has been significantly reduced and currently only a small number of rounds are fired each year to check manufacturing quality.