Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is his planned in-service date for a replacement for the Crowsnest Airborne Early Warning system.

The Royal Navy's Crowsnest Airborne Surveillance and Control capability, which provides the Airborne Early Warning function from Merlin Mk2 helicopters for the Carrier Strike Group, has an Out of Service Date of 31 December 2029.

The Defence Investment Plan has announced that the future carrier based airborne early warning system will be introduced between 2030-2035 and that this system will be autonomous. All potential solutions to meet this requirement for the QEC aircraft carriers are now being considered as part of development of the Hybrid Carrier Air Wing.