Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of developing unmanned surface vehicle technologies.

The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) recommends that an immediate priority should be a shift towards greater use of autonomy and Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the UK's conventional forces.

The Royal Navy (RN) is already transitioning to uncrewed autonomous surface systems, particularly in the area of mine countermeasures, and the SDR announced the Atlantic Bastion transformation programme which should see the introduction of uncrewed surface vessels to support a wide variety of RN tasks. The RN continues to conduct research, trials, and capability development activity to assess potential operational utility and integration pathways for autonomous and remotely operated systems.