Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many projects so far have been funded by £6.6 billion committed to research, development and experimentation over the next four years in the defence command paper.

The £6.6 billion research and development (R&D) ringfence announced as part of Speding Round (SR)20 and includes existing R&D spend across the defence programme in addition to the new investment totalling £1.1 billion over the SR period. This aims to implement a set of R&D pipelines which will address critical and enduring military capability challenges to deliver a decisive strategic edge for our armed forces now and in the future. This new investment consists of around seven programmes and 16 projects, including the following capabilities:

• Enhanced command and control
• Anti Submarine Warfare
• Multi Domain Integrated Swarms
• Directed Energy Weapons
• Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance
• Integrated Space
• Cyber Defence and Artificial Intelligence

Other defence-wide investment in R&D includes the Defence Innovation Fund which has funded over 60 projects this financial year, and R&D in support of the equipment programme such as Future Combat Air System.