asked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) which air defence artillery units are available for out-of-area operation;(2) what field artillery is currently available for use by the United Kingdom Netherlands amphibious force in northern Norway;(3) what air defence artillery is currently available for the United Kingdom Netherlands amphibious force in northern Norway;(4) which field artillery units would be available for out-of-area operations.

The ground forces that we would be most likely to use in operations outside the NATO area are 5 Airborne Brigade and 3 Commando Brigade. The latter is also the main component of the UK/NL landing force, which has northern Norway as one of its deployment options.Each brigade has a field regiment equipp ed with 105 mm light guns, and a Javelin-equipped close air defence troop; 5 Airborne Brigade also has a Rapier-equipped area air defence battery.Depending on the deployment option and other circumstances, the land forces might be able to call on air defence cover from the assets of a naval amphibious group, or from allied land-based aircraft. Additionally, as I announced in the House on 1 July 1986, at column 916, financial provision has been made in our forward plans for a Rapier battery for the United Kingdom/Netherlands landing force, although this does not yet represent a firm commitment.