Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of governments that are, or are almost, able to mobilise new weapons systems capable of operating without meaningful human control; how soon they expect the UK will be able to deploy such systems; and what steps they are taking to secure international controls of such systems.

UK policy is that the operation of weapon systems will always be under human control as an absolute guarantee of oversight and authority for weapons release - no UK weapons systems currently in development will be capable of attacking targets without human control and input. Officials from Her Majesty's Government are closely involved in international discussions on autonomy at the United Nations to ensure that developments occur responsibly and in line with international law.