Earl of Minto

The Type 26 and Type 31 frigates have been designed with flexibility and adaptability in mind, including provision within the baseline designs to accommodate a range of future capability enhancements as required.

As part of routine capability planning, the Ministry of Defence keeps potential upgrades to all Royal Navy platforms under regular review.

The department is working to finalise the Defence Investment Plan, which we will publish as soon as we can. We need to ensure investment choices are right for both now and the future. It is the first zero-based review of Defence's budgets in eighteen years and goes significantly further than the last Government's Equipment Plan by looking across every budget line, including people and infrastructure.

The Ministry of Defence has had delivery of over 7,900 uncrewed systems since July 2024. Due to operational security considerations, it is important to guard against the threat of adversary data aggregation regarding the specific detailed breakdown of UK military capability and stockpiles, including uncrewed systems platform numbers and types. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to comment further.

I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave to Question HL11137 on 4 November 2025.

The Ministry of Defence has announced Atlantic Bastion – the Royal Navy's programme to create an advanced hybrid naval force to secure the North Atlantic for the UK and NATO against the persistent and growing threat posed by Russia.

Atlantic Bastion will see ships, submarines, aircraft and unmanned vessels connected through AI-powered acoustic detection technology and integrated into a digital targeting web. Atlantic Bastion will enable the Armed Forces to find, track and, if required, act against adversaries with unprecedented effectiveness across vast areas of ocean. It represents a generational shift in capability and dominance in the North Atlantic.

Defence is ready to respond to any potential threats and take necessary steps to protect the UK's national interest. Defence will not shy away from robust action to protect Britain; with our NATO allies, we are strengthening our response to ensure that Russian ships and aircraft cannot operate in secrecy near UK or NATO territory.

The Royal Navy constantly monitors activity in and around UK waters and is ready and willing to respond if required, with ships held at high readiness under existing maritime security response plans. The Royal Navy is working closely across Government and with our international Allies to secure the waters and critical undersea infrastructure in and around the UK. HMG's centre of excellence for maritime security, the Joint Maritime Security Centre monitors our critical national infrastructure for potential threats. The Royal Navy also patrols UK waters with Maritime Patrol Aircraft and the Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance programme and continues to invest in new capabilities.

This includes responding to the Yantar, a Russian ship used for gathering intelligence and mapping to threaten our critical national underwater infrastructure and pose a threat to our way of life. During the Yantar's most recent deployment in and around the UK's exclusive economic zone, she was continuously and closely monitored by Royal Navy frigate HMS Somerset and the RAF's P-8s. Defence has also directed a change in the Royal Navy's posture, so that we can more closely track and robustly respond to the threats from this vessel and many others. Such actions have previously included surfacing a Royal Navy submarine - strictly as a deterrent measure - to make clear that we monitor every move.

I refer the noble Lord to the statement I made on 1 April 2025 (HLWS571) about Defence Reform.

Under the Secretary of State for Defence and Ministers, the structure of the Ministry of Defence has been simplified under four Areas: a Department of State, a Military Strategic Headquarters, a National Armaments Director Group, and the Defence Nuclear Enterprise. Departmental processes, and the organisation of public bodies and agencies, are now being updated to reflect the new structure, which will include simplification and reducing duplication.

As set out in the Strategic Defence Review and in the ongoing work on Defence Reform, the Ministry of Defence through the National Armament’s Director will improve the effectiveness of our procurement processes by removing silos between services, by speeding up our decision-making, and by reducing bureaucracy.