Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the press release titled UK and Norway to operate together to counter Russian undersea threat through major new defence agreement, published on 4th December 2025, by when does he expect a combined fleet of at least 13 warships, bolstered by autonomous systems to be ready to hunt Russian submarines and protect critical infrastructure in the North Atlantic.

The Type 26 frigates are expected to begin entering service from 2028, to be operated by the UK and Norwegian Navies. This is part of a carefully managed modernisation programme. There will also be significant long-term investment in the six Daring Class destroyers (Type 45’s), to enhance and sustain these world beating Air Defence platforms into the late 2030s.

The Royal Navy continues to invest in uncrewed and autonomous systems. These nascent capabilities are being integrated to augment our highly capable crewed platforms, increasing mass and persistence to find, track - and if required - act against our peer adversaries' subsurface capabilities in the North Atlantic.