Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the news story entitled UK Armed Forces salute 250 years of American independence with US celebrations, published on 18 May 2026, what assessment he has made of the risk of transiting to the United States via (a) Greenland and (b) Iceland in the context of the age of the Hawk T1 fleet.

A bespoke risk assessment was conducted to supplement the extant Hawk T1 Air System Safety Case. The associated risks are well understood and appropriately mitigated for the Atlantic crossing between the UK, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, and the USA.