Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral evidence taken by the Defence Select Committee on 29 November 2022 on Aviation Procurement, HC 178, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the time it will take for Tempest aircraft to become fully operational on air combat capability gaps.

The Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) is a collaboration between the UK, Italy and Japan to develop a next-generation fighter aircraft to enter service from 2035, before Typhoon's earliest possible out of service date of 2040. Within the UK, the aircraft under development will be known as Tempest.