Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, recent assessment he has made of the effect of potential delays to the Crowsnest radar system on the ability of Carrier Strike to operate (a) safely and (b) effectively.

The Department's approach to capability delivery places safety foremost, through strict compliance to policy, regulation and certification requirements. There are regular updates on the progress of the CROWSNEST programme. The schedule provides an incremental build-up of CROWSNEST to support Initial Operating Capability for Carrier Strike in December 2020 and the inaugural Carrier Strike Group deployment in 2021.