Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 72 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, how much funding his Department plans to provide for more mobile test technologies.

As set out in the Defence Industrial Strategy, investing in mobile test technologies has the potential to accelerate innovation, particularly amongst smaller companies for whom geographically remote and highly capable test ranges may be prohibitively expensive. The same technology will also help Defence undertake more testing in the field, under operationally representative conditions, contributing towards the industrial, innovation and warfighting readiness ambitions in the Strategic Defence Review.

Mobile testing is one aspect of the Department’s Test and Evaluation Transformation programme, which is forecast to spend over £1 million on mobile test technologies this year. The scale of future funding is dependent on the outcome of the Defence Investment Plan.