Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by John Healey (Labour) on Wednesday, 15 November 2023, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 20 November 2023 (named day). It was answered by James Heappey (Conservative) on Thursday, 23 November 2023 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Military Exercises: Infrastructure

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) unilateral, (b) bilateral and (c) multilateral exercises his Department has conducted on the protection of undersea cables and critical national infrastructure in each year since 2010.

Answer

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is not the lead Department for resilience of undersea cables in the UK Marine Area; that responsibility sits with the Department for Science and Technology. Defence has therefore not conducted dedicated exercises related to the protection of such infrastructure over the time period in question.

Defence does, however, frequently rehearse the capabilities which would be called upon in response to a threat to our subsea infrastructure. MOD has underwater capabilities able to be employed to monitor and assure subsea infrastructure, and has invested in a Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance (MROS) programme to enhance these capabilities further. These allow us to maintain maritime situational awareness, improve our ability to detect threats in the North Atlantic, and as a sovereign nation allow us to contribute to the defence and deterrence of the Euro Atlantic area.

We continue to invest in strong working relationships with neighbouring states and alliance partners within NATO, to enhance our ability to respond to threats in this domain. We are committed to prepare for, deter and defend against threats to our subsea infrastructure.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
2084
Session
2023-24
Subjects
Infrastructure Protection Telecommunications Seas and oceans Military exercises
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk