Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding his Department has (a) allocated to and (b) spent on the DragonFire programme.

The DragonFire Laser Directed Energy Weapons accelerated programme, announced in April 2024 by the Secretary of State for Defence, will see £350 million in government investment by April 2027 to deliver minimum deployable capability. The accelerated programme is based on the DragonFire technology demonstrator which has seen £100 million of joint investment from MOD and UK industry since 2017. With £50 million funded by MOD and an additional £50 million funded by industry partners. The MOD is committed to the continued investment in UK Sovereign DEW technology, to provide cutting edge capability to the Armed Forces at pace.