Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of drone technology on domestic defence capabilities.

The Strategic Defence Review considered all aspects of Defence, including the capabilities required by UK Defence to meet the challenges, threats, and opportunities of the twenty-first century.

Both autonomous and uncrewed technologies features in both Current and Planned Force Testing events, to ensure we capture the impact of changing technology on our force design. The mix of weapons systems required to defeat different target sets has also been the subject of Force Variation Testing. The results of these assessments are militarily sensitive, so are not releasable.

The Defence Investment Plan will be published in the Autumn, to take onboard the Review's vision and recommendations and turn them into a delivery plan. We will ensure this plan considers the capabilities we need to deliver a more lethal Integrated Force, alongside infrastructure and people. The plan will ensure Defence has the flexibility to seize new technological opportunities and maximise the benefits of defence spending to grow the UK economy.