asked the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of potential saving for NATO of the degree of standardisation of weapon and equipment procurement which now exists within the Warsaw Pact.

It is impossible to quantify such savings because of the difficulty of estimating the research, development, production and running costs of hypothetical standard equipment as against the variety of equipment now in service. We prefer to devote our efforts to practical steps towards increasing standardisation and interoperability in the Alliance.