Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress has been made on the NATO anti-submarine warfare barrier smart defence initiative.

The Smart Defence Initiative is one part of our portfolio of work to maintain operational advantage in the underwater domain. Subject to Strategic Defence Review outcomes it will be deployed alongside other fixed and crewed systems and will be complimented by advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and autonomy.

The NATO Anti-Submarine Warfare Smart Defence Initiative is UK led with a mandate to accelerate the exploitation of maritime uncrewed systems to support theatre undersea capability. The UK is taking the lead on the flagship project, the Allied Underwater Battlespace Mission Network. Industry engagement is already underway and closes at the end of the month.