Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the breakdown is of armed forces capabilities deployed to Poland as part of NATO exercise Steadfast Defender 24.
Answered by James Heappey
STEADFAST DEFENDER 24 will see the British Army deploy two brigade combat teams and a 3* corps headquarters to Poland, as part of Exercises BRILLANT JUMP, POLISH DRAGON, and IMMEDIATE RESPONSE. This equates to around 4,000 personnel and 2,000 pieces of equipment across the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, 7th Light Mechanised Brigade Combat Team as the core of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (Land), and 12th Armoured Brigade Combat Team. Across Europe, an additional 3,500 theatre enablement personnel will deploy to enable port operations, cross continent force flow, and sustainment of UK forces for the duration of the exercises. There are no maritime or air capabilities deployed to Poland as part of STEADFAST DEFENDER 24.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has conducted (a) trials and (b) research into the feasibility of mounting (i) the Multiple Launch Rocket System and (ii) other similar systems on Royal Navy destroyers.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Royal Navy continually assesses and reviews the available technology and the possibility of integrating different weapons systems into our ships.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has plans to introduce (a) the Kongsberg missile system or (b) a similar variant to the Royal Navy surface fleet.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Royal Navy currently has one ship, HMS Somerset, fitted with the Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile system. The Royal Navy intend to install this Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare capability to further platforms.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has plans to introduce the Tomahawk missile into the Royal Navy surface fleet.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Future Cruise and Anti-Ship Weapon programme will decide on the future offensive surface weapon used on Royal Navy surface fleet platforms. This Programme is still in the assessment phase and no decision has yet been taken.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has plans to purchase precision strike missiles.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) keeps its capability requirements under review to ensure that we have a balanced and affordable capability portfolio which best meets our needs. As part of this ongoing work, the MOD is reviewing elements of its Land Deep Fires Programme, to ensure best Value for Money and the most appropriate military capabilities for the UK now and in the future.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to help prevent service personnel from leaving the armed forces after reporting sexual harassment.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
It is taking time to collate the required information to answer the right hon. Member's Question. I will write to him when the information is available, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his polices of the drone attack on the Tower 22 US base in Jordan on 28 January 2024.
Answered by James Heappey
The Ministry of Defence continuously monitors the security situation within the region, including following the attack on the Tower 22 base. The UK remains firmly committed to the Global Coalition Against Daesh and we are working with our partners across the region to promote regional stability.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the level of risk posed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq to service personnel (a) deployed on Op Shader and (b) otherwise serving overseas.
Answered by James Heappey
The force protection of UK service personnel deployed on Op SHADER and otherwise serving overseas is kept under constant review. For reasons of operational security, I am unable to comment on specific assessments or mitigations.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to send additional defence capabilities to the (a) Gulf of Aden and (b) Red Sea region following the attack on HMS Diamond.
Answered by James Heappey
On 11 January 2024, Royal Air Force aircraft joined coalition forces in striking a number of facilities used by the Houthi rebel faction in Yemen to attack shipping in the southern Red Sea.
This followed the Houthis persistence in threatening merchant ships and deliberate targeting of HMS Diamond and US Navy vessels on 9 January 2024.
This limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defence was taken alongside the United States against targets tied to these attacks, to degrade Houthi military capabilities and protect global shipping.
As announced during the 8 January 2024 Defence Orals, HMS Richmond is sailing from the UK to the Red Sea. We keep operational deployments under review to ensure that we are able to respond to the situation in the region.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish a list of the (a) sea trial and (b) operational start date for each Type 26 frigate.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Initial Operating Capability for the Type 26 Class is forecast to be October 2028. All ships are expected to enter service between 2028 and 2035.
To avoid compromising operational security, the Ministry of Defence does not routinely disclose individual out of service dates or specific in-service dates for warships to avoid revealing elements of the Fleet's long-term schedule. However, the Royal Navy continues to ensure that it has sufficient assets available to deliver operational outputs.