Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether it is his formal target to procure RCH 155 within the 5-year limit for hardware platforms.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 4 December 2024 to Question 16467 to the right hon. Member for Rayleigh and Wickford (Mark Francois). I explained that whilst the Mobile Fires Platform aims to achieve Minimum Deployable Capability (MDC) within this decade, a timeline or definition of MDC is yet to be determined, both of which will be guided by the outcome of the Strategic Defence Review.

Whilst the MDC is not yet defined, the target for delivery of the RCH 155 is in line with the Defence Command Paper and the Integrated Procurement Model’s five-year target.