Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish the UK programmes providing support for the development of the European Defence Technology Industrial Base.

As the largest defence spender in Europe, there are a number of UK programmes that support the development of the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB). These include our ongoing investment in Typhoon; the UK-French Maritime Mine Counter-Measure programme; the UK-French Future Anti-Surface Guided Weapon (Heavy) (SeaVenom); the 'METEOR' missile; the A400M; Tornado aircraft; and the UK procurement of the 'AJAX' armoured fighting vehicle.

The UK remains an irreplaceable component of European defence capability and is a key industrial partner in European cooperative development programmes. The UK also holds membership of two non-EU intergovernmental agencies; the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation and the Letter of Intent Treaty nations framework which promote the strengthening of the EDTIB.