The World : 16 Belgium Missiles Set Up

The first 16 of 48 U.S.-made cruise missiles earmarked for deployment in Belgium under a North Atlantic Treaty Organization plan have been installed at an air base south of Brussels and are now operational, Belgian government officials said. Defense Minister Freddy Vreven said the missiles were flown directly from the United States by U.S. Air Force transport planes to the base at Florennes. They arrived several hours after Premier Wilfried Martens informed Parliament that Belgium would accept the missiles, thereby ending months of uncertaintly over whether Brussels would stick to its decision to accept the NATO deployment.