Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the data tables accompanying the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority Annual Report 2024-25, published on 11 August 2025, what the nature of the concern was of the aircraft certification risk for tranche one of the Chinook Capability Sustainment Programme.

The National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority Annual (NISTA) Report 2024-25 referenced the Chinook H-47(Extended Range) certification risk to highlight that timely information sharing between the US and the UK was important to meeting the Programme schedule.

Significant progress has been made since the publication of the NISTA report to ensure the timely release of information from the US Government. The Programme is on track to conduct flight trials in 2027, managed in association with the US Government, ahead of final certification agreement with the UK Military Aviation Authority. The NISTA report also highlighted that considerable attention and resource is being dedicated to H-47(Extended Range) certification.