Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many ships his Department plans to fit with the Dragonfire directed energy weapon.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has committed to accelerating DragonFire Laser Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) into operational capability by equipping multiple Royal Navy ships with a DragonFire LDEW minimum deployable capability from 2027. During the development of the first DragonFire Directed Energy Weapon, the MOD will identify the most appropriate ship for first deployment of this capability to meet operational requirements and increase the capability of the Royal Navy as well as the number of ships we will fit with this capability.