The World - News from Dec. 15, 1987

Britain and France, the only nuclear powers in Western Europe, announced plans for joint development of an aircraft-launched missile and also signed a mutual defense agreement for the planned English Channel tunnel. Despite Soviet complaints, the two countries insisted that a jointly developed missile would not undermine the superpower treaty to ban ground-launched, intermediate-range missiles. British and French nuclear arsenals are not covered by the treaty. The agreement on the tunnel, due for completion in 1993, provides that it could be used to send allied troops to the continent from Britain in time of war.