House of Commons and House of Lords Hansard Written Answers
Q
Asked by Lord Campbell of Pittenweem
Asked on: 17 July 2017
Ministry of Defence
HL864
Her Majesty’s Government what proposals they have for maintaining the UK’s intelligence, surveillance, targeting, acquisition, and reconnaissance capability.
A
Answered by: Earl Howe
Answered on: 27 July 2017
The Ministry of Defence continues to sustain and deliver multiple intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) programmes in line with our announcements during the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015. These capabilities enable us to build our understanding across the five domains of Space, Maritime, Land, Air and Cyber. We also continue to benefit from significant investment in our ability to share intelligence across Government and with key Allies.
During 2016, two major ISTAR programmes sponsored by Joint Forces Command and now in delivery with the Royal Air Force received approval to proceed to the demonstration and manufacture phases of the acquisition cycle. The P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft will be operated from RAF Lossiemouth and enhance our ability to counter an increasing submarine threat. Protector will replace Reaper as the UK’s armed remotely piloted air system (RPAS) capability and will be equipped with UK precision-guided weapons.
Our Signals Intelligence capability has been enhanced by improvements to Royal Navy platforms and by the recent delivery of the third Airseeker aircraft.
We have also learned much from the investment in our ability to fuse open source intelligence with more traditional sources, and our ability to analyse this increasing amount of data will be improved by further investment in data science capabilities.
Finally, in order to ensure the UK remains one step ahead of our adversaries, we continue to invest in science and technology to develop new sensors and improve our ability to exploit information.
Q
Asked by Jonathan Edwards
(Carmarthen East and Dinefwr)
Asked on: 18 July 2017
Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence: European Union (Withdrawal) Bill
5712
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate his Department has made of the potential number of Acts or parts of Acts in the remit of his Department that will be subject to repeal as a result of provisions in the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill.
A
Answered by: Mark Lancaster
Answered on: 26 July 2017
Government Departments have been analysing the UK statute book and directly applicable EU law in their areas of responsibility to enable an assessment of the scale of the changes needed. This work is ongoing and is likely to include the repeal, but also the amendment, of provisions in Acts.
In the Government White Paper on the Repeal Bill, Legislating for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, published on 30 March 2017, we estimated that around 800-1,000 EU-exit related Statutory Instruments will be required.
Q
Asked by Mrs Madeleine Moon
(Bridgend)
Asked on: 17 July 2017
Ministry of Defence
Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft
5467
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the risk assessment outcomes are which influenced his Department not to purchase the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node in order to facilitate secure signalling between the F35B and older aircraft; and if he will make a statement.
A
Answered by: Harriett Baldwin
Answered on: 25 July 2017
The F-35 has all necessary communications to enable interoperability with other UK and NATO capabilities. The UK has conducted recent trials, with exceptional results, into understanding, and then maximizing, communications between advanced and legacy capabilities.
Q
Asked by Mrs Madeleine Moon
(Bridgend)
Asked on: 17 July 2017
Ministry of Defence
HMS Queen Elizabeth
5469
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether HMS Queen Elizabeth is equipped with the Multifunctional Advanced Data Li