Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2024 to Question 18148 on Lasers: Weapons, what progress he has made on developing (a) radio frequency directed energy weapons, (b) DragonFire laser and (c) other directed energy weapons for the protection of UK military bases on the (i) UK mainland and (ii) overseas.

Following the Strategic Defence Review, this Government has announced nearly £1 billion in further investment for Directed Energy Weapons (DEW), an example of how we will be at the leading edge of innovation and novel capabilities within NATO.

We recently completed a trial of a radio frequency DEW demonstrator with the British Army, successfully engaging and defeating drones. DragonFire continues to progress and a recent trial saw us fire +300 times, proving consistency and reliability, and included 30 drone defeats and firings in adverse weather conditions. These trials generate vital evidence and learning needed to improve and adapt these systems, and together with our investment will bring DEW systems into service quickly, protecting our Armed Forces.

DEW systems can be utilised for multiple military use cases. For operational security reasons, the Ministry of Defence does not comment on the specific protection of military bases.