Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress he has made on developing the Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon.

The Defence Investment Plan (DIP) commits £490 million to directed energy weapons (DEW) over the next four years. The UK is a world leader in research on Radio Frequency weapons and continues to invest in developing systems. Last year, the UK successfully completed a trial of a radio frequency DEW demonstrator mounted on a British Army vehicle. This deployment with Army personnel allows the Ministry of Defence to gather operational experience and inform the development of future systems. These trials included the first use of DEW by the Army to counter drone swarms during live testing against targets.