Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release entitled UK to develop new deep strike ballistic missile for Ukraine, published on 11 January 2026, how many of the new deep strike ballistic missiles will be produced in each year of the current Parliament.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The project aims for three industry teams to each be awarded a £9 million development contract in March 2026 to design, develop and deliver their first three missiles within 12 months for test firings. Following successful testing, we plan to place a 2-year production contract, with the first deliveries of Nightfall to Ukraine to start in late 2027 and ramp up to a rate of at least 10 missiles per month.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release entitled UK to develop new deep strike ballistic missile for Ukraine, published on 11 January 2026, what the in service date is of the new deep strike ballistic missile.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The project aims for three industry teams to each be awarded a £9 million development contract in March 2026 to design, develop and deliver their first three missiles within 12 months for test firings. We envision the first deliveries of Nightfall to Ukraine to start in late 2027.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release entitled UK to develop new deep strike ballistic missile for Ukraine, published on 11 January 2026, how many and what proportion of the missiles will be manufactured in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The deadline to receive Nightfall development proposals is the 9 February 2026, with development contract(s) aimed to be awarded in March 2026. The Department aims to maximise the UK industrial content of these development contract(s).
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Declaration of Intent between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, The French Republic and Ukraine relating to the deployment of multinational forces in support of the defence, reconstruction and strategic sustainability of Ukraine, if he will outline how he will help strengthen the defence-industrial potential of Ukraine.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The UK contributes significantly to Ukraine's defence industrial resilience through Task Force HIRST and Programme LYRA. A key strength of the UK's approach lies in our ability to consistently support Ukraine by bringing together our industrial base and technologists to partner with Ukrainian companies, establishing new joint ventures.
The deployment of a Multinational Force to Ukraine will further reinforce our support and provide the right environment to exploit and rapidly scale the significant work the UK has already done.
We will continue to use UK and international funding and the interest on immobilised Russian assets to support Ukrainian and UK industrial collaboration and continue to work with our Ukrainian partners to reduce frictions and increase materiel production.
This will build on the UK's successes under HIRST: trade missions, megaprojects, equipment support; and leverage the evolution of our support under the 100 Year Partnership, through the sharing of battlefield technology and joint capability development under Programme LYRA.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Declaration of Intent between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, The French Republic and Ukraine relating to the deployment of multinational forces in support of the defence, reconstruction and strategic sustainability of Ukraine, when his Department will publish the number of UK service personnel deployed as part of the Multinational Force Ukraine.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Secretary of State for Defence has regular engagement with Ukraine, France and other partners on Ukraine-related security in the event of a cessation of hostilities. This Government is committed to ensuring our Armed Forces remain ready to respond to all challenges, including deployment to Ukraine.
Whilst planning continues, we will not be drawn into the details of any future UK Armed Forces deployment, including its levels, composition, assets, and participating nations. As stated by the Prime Minister, the details of a deployment as relating to the Declaration of Intent will be set out in a statement at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: James Cartlidge (Conservative - South Suffolk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Declaration of Intent between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, The French Republic and Ukraine relating to the deployment of multinational forces in support of the defence, reconstruction and strategic sustainability of Ukraine, if he will outline the process by which he will develop the rules of engagement for UK service personnel forming part of the Multinational Force Ukraine.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
For reasons of safeguarding national security, I am not able to outline the process for developing rules of engagement, as to do so would be prejudicial to our operations.