Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of non-active involvement in the Hypersonic Defence Interceptor System programme on the UK's ability to obtain a counter-hypersonic capability.

The UK is an official Observer Nation to the Hypersonic Defence Interceptor System (HYDIS) concept programme which provides insight and progressive evaluation of the requirements and technology choices. Alternative routes to the UK achieving a counter-hypersonic capability remain under assessment and our next steps will be informed by the European Defence Fund decision whether to progress HYDIS or the competing HYDEF programme from May 2027.