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Forces In Europe Treaty

Volume 181: debated on Monday 19 November 1990

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To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give details of the limits imposed by the conventional forces in Europe treaty on the United Kingdom's holdings of treaty-limited equipment.

The CFE treaty imposes ceilings on the holdings of certain types of equipment by each group of states. It obliges the members of each group to agree a division of these collective ceilings among themselves, and to notify the other parties. The allocations thus agreed for each nation can thereafter be increased with the consent of other members of the same group. As a result of consultations with our alliance partners, we have agreed the following allocations for the United Kingdom, to apply once the reductions necessitated by the treaty have been completed:

Number
Battle Tanks1,015
Artillery636
Armoured Combat Vehicles3,176
Number
Combat Aircraft900
Attack Helicopters384

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give details of the numbers and types of United Kingdom equipment covered by the conventional forces in Europe treaty and their location.

The information requested is as follows:

TypeUnited KingdomElsewhere1Total2
Battle Tanks
Chieftain244508752
Challenger44364408
Centurion112738
Total2998991,198
Artillery
M10743337
M11011516
M1098101109
FH706868
Abbot18133151
105 Lt Gun16713180
5·5" Howitzer99
Pack Howitzer5252
MLRS6814
Total333303636
Armoured Combat Vehicles
FV4321801,0601,240
FV432 Rarden11213
Humber27439313
Saracen12145166
Spartan254278532
Saxon29111302
Saladin11213
Scorpion173115288
Warrior115211326
Total1,4101,7833,193
Combat Aircraft
Buccaneer6262
Canberra5050
Harrier9430124
Hunter3434
Jaguar136136
Lightning11
Phantom9728125
Tornado21496310
Total688154842
Attack Helicopters
Gazelle12865193
Lynx5653109
Scout6666
Total250118368
1 Almost entirely Germany, but some small numbers in Belgium, Gibraltar and Cyprus.
2 Includes equipment deployed to the Gulf area.
A copy of the full United Kingdom CFE data declaration has been placed in the Library of the House.