Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the Military Aviation Authority report that an RAF Voyager encountered a near-miss with an unidentified drone at approximately 17,000ft off the Norfolk coast during a Typhoon air-to-air refuelling exercise on 18th February 2026.

Defence Air Safety Occurrence Reports (DASORs) are safety reports submitted by personnel involved in, or witness to, aviation safety occurrences. They form part of the MOD's aviation safety management system and are used to support the investigation of safety events, identify hazards, and improve aviation safety.

The DASOR submitted by the pilot of the Voyager aircraft reported a loss of safe separation with another object as an airprox event. This was subsequently investigated by the independent United Kingdom Airprox Board who published their summary report airprox number 2026012 in April 2026 at the following link: https://www.airproxboard.org.uk/media/3ikpobnb/april-drone-summary-sheet.pdf