Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Oral Statement on 26 March 2025 entitled Spring Statement, Official Report, whether any programmes in existence prior to 26 March 2025 will be included in the 10% committed to be spent on novel technologies from the MOD equipment budget.

Work to deliver the Strategic Defence Review recommendations, including directing at least 10% of our equipment procurement annually on novel technologies, which will be set out in the forthcoming Defence Investment Plan.

That will include a mixture a significant number of existing defence programmes which are already at the cutting edge, as well as new initiatives like directed energy weapons, AI and autonomous platforms.