Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he has taken to increase co-operation between (a) British armed forces and the (b) Italian armed forces.

Italy remains one of the UK’s most critical partners for European defence and security. The UK has a valuable and longstanding partnership with Italy built on deep tri-service links and historic cooperation in the combat air and weapons sectors.

Through annual 2+2 meetings between our Foreign and Defence Secretaries, our bilateral High-Level Military Dialogue, and regular interaction through other groupings such as NATO and E5 Defence Ministers Group, we continuously explore how our nations can better work together to address issues of shared strategic interest.

The closeness of our relationship is exemplified by our commitment to the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP). Alongside Italy and Japan, we have made great progress delivering GCAP, achieving Treaty Ratification between all partner nations in December 2024 and establishing the GCAP Headquarters, based in Reading. This programme will not only deliver a cutting-edge combat aircraft but will foster closer defence cooperation between the three nations while also strengthening each country’s defence industry, creating jobs and fostering economic growth.

Outside of GCAP, the bi-annual Senior Armaments Export Group meeting brings together Government and industry to understand how we can best work together to pursue opportunities for deeper collaboration on defence programmes and exports. In February 2025, British and Italian capability directors signed a Statement of Intent focusing on complex weapons cooperation, adding more structure to this relationship.

Operationally our relationship is strong. We continue to deepen interoperability between our Carrier Strike Groups. As the only other European nation with carrier-capable F-35B aircraft, the Italian Armed Forces are providing a crucial contribution to the UK’s 2025 Carrier Strike Group deployment, Op HIGHMAST.