Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the UK’s air defence systems for defending critical infrastructure.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is reviewing its air defence capabilities and contribution to wider national defence as part of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) and is in close collaboration with other Government Departments to help develop the future proposition. The UK currently has a wide range of capabilities to counter the Air and Missile threat facing us. This includes but is not limited to: Typhoon aircraft on Quick Reaction Alert readiness, Type 45 destroyers, short and medium range ground-based air defence, and numerous critical supporting elements. The MOD constantly reviews its policies and capabilities in line with developing threats. The air and missile threat is proliferating and Defence will ensure that this changing threat picture is factored into the SDR work.