Written questions by Obese-Jecty.

What progress he has made on obtaining final approval of the Full Business Case for the E7 Wedgetail programme.

The Full Business Case was approved in June 2025.

What the out-of-service dates are for each Royal Navy mine counter measures vessel.

All existing HUNT and SANDOWN-class Mine Countermeasures Vessels are planned for retirement within the Mine Hunting Capability (MHC) programme, as part of the transition to advanced autonomous systems. For operational security reasons, the Royal Navy does not release the out of service dates of individual platforms.

What progress his Department has made in identifying a vehicle on which to mount the Short-Range Air Defence missile system.

As announced at the Defence and Security International (DSEI) conference 2025, the British Army has joined the Common Armoured Vehicle System (CAVS) Programme, a multinational initiative with Finland, centred around the Patria 6x6 armoured vehicle. The Patria CAVS 6x6 armoured vehicle is being considered as the single common base platform which will deliver the British Army’s mounted Short Range Air Defence missile system, as well as a breadth of Heavy Protected Mobility requirements.

What progress has he made in converting the stockpile of Aster-15 missiles to the Aster-30 variant.

The Aster Mid-Life Refresh programme commenced this year with the refurbishment of Aster 30 missiles. A value for money assessment is underway to determine whether to convert the remaining stockpile of Aster 15 missiles into Aster 30s. If that option is taken forward, it would begin after the refurbishment of the Aster 30s has been completed in 2029.

With reference to page 134 of his Department's Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 2 June 2025, what progress he has made in attracting private capital to invest in housing developments on Ministry of Defence land.

The Defence Housing Strategy will set out the roadmap for how the Department will deliver a national regeneration programme for the Service Family Accommodation estate and deliver more housing of all types on Defence land identified as suitable for development. It is due to be published later this year.

Which armoured fighting vehicle is part of the Mechanised Infantry Programme.

As published on the British Army website, Boxer is the Armoured Fighting Vehicle being delivered through the Mechanised Infantry Programme. https://www.army.mod.uk/learn-and-explore/equipment/combat-vehicles/boxer/

With reference to page 23 of the National Security Strategy 2025, CP 1338, published on 24 June 2025, what steps the military is taking to help support the UK’s scientific presence in the British Antarctic Territory.

Defence plays an important role in safeguarding UK interests in Antarctica, including the British Antarctic Territory and supporting UK roles and responsibilities to the Antarctic Treaty. The Royal Navy’s Ice Patrol Ship, HMS PROTECTOR, routinely deploys to the Antarctic Peninsula. Activities include: undertaking hydrographic surveys to improve the safety of navigation; facilitating inspections under the Antarctic Treaty; and assistance to the British Antarctic Survey and UK Antarctic Heritage Trust. RAF transport aircraft periodically deliver logistics to British Antarctic Survey through airdrops. The MOD is supporting the FCDO’s work to publish a UK Antarctic strategy by the end of the year, which will set the Government’s aims and ambitions for Antarctica for the next 10 years.

With reference to page 105 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, updated on 8 July 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of littoral strike by the Royal Navy on NATO regional plans.

The Royal Navy's Littoral Strike capabilities are aligned with NATO's strategic objectives. These capabilities enhance the UK's ability to contribute to NATO operations, particularly in contested and strategically significant regions, and they support the Alliance's goals of deterrence, crisis response, and operational readiness. The UK operates Littoral Response Groups (LRGs), which are part of the Littoral Strike concept, as forward-deployed amphibious forces capable of operating independently or as part of a larger joint force. These groups are designed to deliver defence engagement, maritime security operations, and hybrid warfare operations, as well as to support NATO operations including regional plans, which are routinely reviewed by the NATO Joint Force Command.

With reference to page 120 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what progress he has made on educating personnel on the risk of cyber-attack via Defence Digital.

The Strategic Defence Review 2025 recognised the importance of educating personnel on how they can protect the Department from cyber-attack. Since 2020 the Ministry of Defence has implemented a blended approach to this challenge, including formal training, supported with a thematic awareness campaign designed to develop and embed good cyber security behaviours across the entire workforce.

With reference to page 110 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Army’s contribution to the (a) planning, (b) preparation and (c) delivery of defence support to domestic resilience if it were mobilised for war.

The Army, Royal Navy and RAF all continuously contribute to national resilience and would do so in a time of war. At present personnel are held at very high readiness to respond to domestic crises, and have formed the backbone of domestic resilience efforts over the past several years, including during Covid. The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) and National Security Strategy highlighted the importance of domestic resilience in a time a crisis. Working closely with the Cabinet Office-led Home Defence Programme, we are developing plans and policies in a range of Home Defence related areas, taking the spirit and recommendations of the SDR and applying that to the whole range of policy areas that flow from it, including support to domestic resilience planning and preparation.

What recent progress he has made on implementing the Submarine Waterfront Infrastructure Future project.

The Submarine Waterfront Infrastructure Future (SWIF) programme will provide facilities to locations such as Devenport that include a new non-tidal maintenance berth in 5 Basin, a refurbished 10 Dock, and supporting buildings and services. Significant planning has been undertaken in preparation for build, including working with the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and de-risking the site for construction. The construction phase of the berth has commenced, with the excavation of more than 18,000 cubic metres of material, which will form the 280-metre-long tunnel that will carry electrical, water, communications and air services vital to the nuclear safety and maintenance of berthed submarines. The berth wall will be formed from a series of precast concrete reinforced sections secured by rock anchor to provide the required stability; as a precursor to this work four trial anchors are currently under construction. Progress against 10 dock refurbishment includes trial build activity and the fabrication of a dockyard concrete batching plant, which will support the pace required during main dock construction. Significant volumes of concrete were also poured in the Spring this year, the biggest single pour in 20 years at the dockyard, to form the base of the caisson which seals the dock. The next phase of caisson construction activity is due to commence in the coming days.

With reference to page 135 of his Department's document entitled Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 2 June 2025, what progress he has made in increasing renewable energy production on overseas bases.

The priority for Defence is to maintain resilience to enable our warfighting capability both in the UK and Overseas. Assessments into energy resilience of our overseas bases have been undertaken and where it has been identified that renewables, fuel diversification or energy storage will enhance our operational resilience, then these projects have been raised onto the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) for consideration of funding. That plan is still under consideration.

If he will set out the remaining (a) scope and (b) cost to completion for the MENSA programme.

The MENSA programme continues to make progress and is nearing the end of its construction and commissioning stage. As set out in the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority Annual Report 2024-25, the latest cost estimate to deliver the programme is £2.9 billion.

With reference to page 101 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, published on 8 July 2025, what progress he has made on establishing a nuclear fuels programme.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 9 September 2025 to Question 74105.

What maritime autonomous systems are within the scope of the Mine Hunting Capability programme.

The Mine Hunting Capability (MHC) programme continues to deliver an advanced suite of unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) into service within the Royal Navy, enabling frontline mine warfare specialists to enhance operational effectiveness. These cutting-edge autonomous mine-hunting systems are deployed by the Mine and Threat Exploitation Group for evaluation, training, and operational deployment. The comprehensive scope of the MHC programme encompasses multiple USVs, UUVs, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for identification and neutralisation, and a state-of-the-art, sovereign mine-sweeping capability. Additionally, the programme has delivered HMS STIRLING CASTLE, a dedicated support vessel designed to enhance the deployment and sustainment of autonomous systems.

With reference to page 128 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what progress he has made on breaking down barriers to collaboration with partners across government.

Collaboration with partners across Government, including the UK Intelligence Community (UKIC), is essential to Defence outputs-both in routine activity and on operations. The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) sets a clear ambition to strengthen collaboration and interoperability, enabling delivery of the Integrated Force and the Digital Targeting Web. Defence is already interoperable with Government partners and capable of sharing data and intelligence. However, there are further opportunities to improve. To address this, multiple programmes are ongoing which aim to enhance interoperability and remove barriers to information sharing. These initiatives vary in maturity but are already being adopted across the MOD and UKIC and delivering measurable benefits.Additional work is underway to modernise data-handling approaches across National Security, leveraging technological advances to enable machine-speed sharing where appropriate. Combined with the MOD's broader technology modernisation programmes, these efforts will deliver improved capability, interoperability, and resilience across Defence and Government partners.

With reference to page 122 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what progress he has made on shaping the CyberEM domain to be led in a similar way to UK Space Command.

The design and implementation planning process is well underway. The 4 star Cyber and Specialist Operations Command (CSOC) was officially launched on 1 September 2025. The 2 star Defence Cyber and Electromagnetic Force, previously referred to as the CyberEM Command, which operates within CSOC, is set to be established by the end of the year. The design team has visited UK Space Command to ensure that their lessons and best practice have been incorporated and will continue to share best practice during the design and implementation phase.

With reference to page 120 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what the future structure of the Army’s Cyber and Electromagnetic Effects Group will be.

The Department is committed to implementing the recommendations of the Strategic Defence Review, including those involving the Cyber and Electromagnetic Domain (CyberEM) Force design work on the Army’s CyberEM Effects Group is ongoing. Until this work is fully complete, there are no changes to the current CyberEM structure.

With reference to recommendation 48 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of (a) investment and (b) improvement of RAF Brize Norton in partnership with private finance.

RAF Brize Norton has secured multiple strategic investments that will deliver long term improvements to capability and the lived experience of the personnel based there. These improvements include Baggage Handling and Passenger Check-In Infrastructure, Airfield Operating Surfaces Project and a new Freight Handling Facility. In line with our standard processes, all investment decisions are carefully scrutinised to ensure they offer value for money.

With reference to page 91 of the Strategic Defence Review 2025, by when he plans to enable the annual publication of a summary of assessments on programme availability.

The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) set out the need for external scrutiny of UK warfighting readiness through annual reporting of key data, as one of a number of possible measures in a wider Defence Readiness Bill. Given its potentially broad scope, a Defence Readiness Bill may be a legislative vehicle for wider Government, not just Defence. We are therefore working closely across Government through the Cabinet Office-led Home Defence programme to shape key requirements, and understand and identify the measures needed. This preliminary work will allow us introduce legislation when parliamentary time allows.