Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's definition of full operating capability for the Dragonfire directed energy weapon programme is.

The Ministry of Defence has committed to accelerating DragonFire Laser Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) into operational capability. This is being procured under the new Integrated Procurement Model, and so we will be equipping multiple Royal Navy ships with DragonFire LDEW as a minimum deployable capability from 2027, and will spirally develop as necessary. As such, there will be no initial operating capability or full operating capability date.