The Ministry of Defence is taking a system-wide approach to developing the skills required to support artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and cyber capabilities across Defence.

At the core of this is a transition to a Skills-Based Organisation, underpinned by the Pan-Defence Skills Framework, which enables Defence to identify, manage and deploy the skills, standards and career pathways needed to build sovereign capability at scale. This includes the integration of AI skills into workforce planning and learning pathways, enabling a more agile and deployable workforce aligned to national security priorities. In parallel, Defence is delivering an awareness and culture programme to ensure its people possess the digital literacy and security awareness necessary to exploit technology safely and securely.

The Ministry of Defence is pursuing the digitalisation of support to strategic decision making. This will improve established mechanisms, including the Capability Audit and the Defence Readiness System, through the development of the Defence Strategic Framework, a digitised logic model which links all of defence’s capabilities to strategic outcomes.

We are in the process of building increasingly more detailed modelling environments to test our current and future capabilities within both as single systems and systems of systems. These will likely be enhanced by AI aspects to run efficient subsets of large, interlinked and complex solution spaces.

We have also delivered Machine Learning trained versions of models of threat systems as much lighter weight tools that they can use without dedicated computing power. AI enablement of Force Development inputs and processes is being developed as a means of exploring our curated evidence and risk data sets with respect to improving Force Design and concomitant capability planning.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) fully assess the financial status of legal entities before any new contract is awarded. Bidders must be able to demonstrate both economic and financial capacity requirements. These requirements including assets and liabilities are related and proportionate to the subject matter of the contract and are limited to determining that the bidder has the financial capacity to perform the contract.

The Defence Industrial Strategy will strengthen supply chains, drive innovation, and create high-skilled jobs through the launch of five Defence Growth Deals across the nations and regions of the United Kingdom, investing in measures to support supply chain resilience and the creation of the Defence Office of Small Business Growth. These measures will support national security while promoting local economic growth and resilience.

AI (and the autonomy it enables) has potential to transform every aspect of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Armed Forces. Rapid and scaled adoption of these technologies is a key Defence priority and significant work is underway across the Department, including over 400 AI-related projects and programmes.

MOD’s efforts to harness AI are cohered through the Defence AI Centre - a partnership between Defence Digital, Defence Equipment and Support and Dstl. Dstl’s Science and Technology research capabilities therefore underpin our approach to AI, helping to ensure that the MOD understand key technological developments while also developing the standards, tooling and Test and Evaluation capabilities to adopt and use AI-enabled systems safely and responsibly.

The Royal Navy has been using a range of unmanned underwater vehicles to detect sea mines since 2005 and is investing in several autonomous mine-hunting capabilities. The Royal Navy does not routinely comment on future operational plans due to operational security reasons.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises the enormous potential that AI and other emerging technologies offer to transform all aspects of the Department and the Armed Forces. We maintain significant in-house Science and Technology (S&T) capabilities in Dstl to monitor technology trends, develop novel applications and mitigate strategic surprise.

The UK and the Joint Expeditionary Force are at the forefront of supporting Allies to protect crucial offshore infrastructure from threats, including using integrated technology with logic flows to identify vessels of interest at the pace of relevance.

The Department has a history of successfully incorporating new technologies and takes its responsibility to use AI safely and ethically very seriously, adhering to legal commitments and societal values.

We continue to collaborate with the Department for Science, Technology and Innovation and Defence Regulators to adapt our strategies to the evolving challenges of AI.

The Dependable AI JSP 936 part 1, published in 2024, gives clear guidance on applying the MOD’s AI ethical principles to create safe, effective AI-enabled capabilities with appropriate human oversight. This policy governs all Defence AI capabilities.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to adopting and using Artificial Intelligence technologies safely and responsibly, working closely with our international partners and experts in industry, academia and civil society.

Artificial Intelligence is being considered for a range of military applications, including helping to accelerate operational tempo; strengthening the Force through greater mass, persistence and reach; enabling us to operate in environments that would otherwise not be possible; removing our people from harm's way; and making our workforce more effective.

The Cyber Resilience Strategy for Defence is already driving forward a programme of work to improve Defence’s cyber security. The Cyber Resilience Strategy was reviewed recently and remains valid. This includes adopting a Secure by Design approach to ensure security is built into our programmes from the outset and managed effectively on a through life basis.

With regards to the recent cyber incident specifically, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has commissioned an independent review into what happened and lessons that can be learned. This will include examining Data and Information Security, the involvement with the contractor and the wider use of systems which process personal data. In addition the MOD are conducting a full review of the Information Security measures that were in place in this contract. Should the independent review suggest that further measures are necessary, the MOD will review these recommendations and implement such changes as are necessary to ensure the continued security of all MOD's data.

The Defence AI Strategy (June 2021) set out a vision to better engage with industry and highlight the importance of effective public-private partnerships. In response to the strategy, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and Google Cloud UK signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 14 June 2023 to enable them to work together on delivering safe and responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) Science & Technology research for the benefit of UK defence. In due course, progress consequent upon the MOU will be reviewed.

Over 600 nationally recognised qualifications are delivered to personnel across the single Services from Levels 1 to 8 on the Regulated Qualifications Framework, covering a wide range of subject areas including aviation, engineering, IT, leadership, and medical training.

Where possible, all mandatory military training and education is accredited and leads towards a full or partial nationally recognised qualification. In instances where this is not possible due to niche content, individuals may elect to undertake additional learning to achieve a full qualification or accreditation, supported by their Service. In addition to in-service military training and education, the Ministry of Defence provides funding for Service personnel and Service leavers to gain qualifications in subjects of their choosing.

The Ministry of Defence has no plans to provide military personnel to ‘replace’ nurses and paramedics during the upcoming strike action. Defence will, however, make 500 military personnel available for ambulance driving tasks to support NHS Trusts during January 2023. A further 600 military personnel were made available to support Border Force during the industrial action on the 23-26 and 28-31 December 2022.

The 2021 Integrated Review (IR) and Defence Command Paper outlines the Government's plan for Defence. It recognised the unprecedented challenges posed by geopolitical shifts, including intensifying competition between states, a widening range of security threats, and rapid technological change. It outlines how our Armed Forces will be organised and equipped to be more agile and adaptable to emerging threats.

We are continuing to monitor the situation globally, including in Ukraine, to ensure we remain threat-led and, in line with the agile planning and delivery mechanisms developed following the IR, we will continue to review our capabilities and readiness levels accordingly.

As announced by the Prime Minister on 24 March at the NATO Summit in Brussels, the UK will send an additional 6,000 missiles and provide £25 million in unrestricted funding for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, more than doubling the lethal aid we have provided to date.

The Government is clear that Defence should be led by our understanding of the threats it needs to counter. As such the Ministry of Defence keeps its spending under constant review and is analysing the implications of the increased threat that Russia now poses. Defence is coming into its second year of its four-year spending settlement, in which it has already secured an additional 16.5 billion of funding over the Spending Review period, marking the biggest investment in the Armed Forces since the Cold War.

The Government is strongly committed to fulfilling its responsibilities to current and former locally employed staff in Afghanistan. The Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme is not time-limited and will endure, remaining open indefinitely to British Nationals who remain in Afghanistan and Afghan allies who were directly employed by Her Majesty’s Government.

For those not eligible under the ARAP scheme, including employees of UK based NGOs and UK funded projects, the Home Office is working quickly to establish the details of the Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme (ACRS). This scheme will provide protection for those identified as most at risk, such as women and girls. The Government has committed to take around 5,000 refugees in the first year and up to 20,000 over the coming years.

Armed Forces personnel (Regular and mobilised Reserve) who experience a traumatic event are supported through the Trauma Risk Management process (TRiM). Whilst no system can detect every individual at risk of mental illness, there are measures in place to increase awareness at all levels and to mitigate the development of operational stresses. These include pre- and post-deployment briefing and the availability of support, assessment and (if required) treatment, both during and after deployments.

Post-tour decompression activity which supports the readjustment and reintegration of personnel as smoothly and quickly as possible to sustain readiness has been factored into Op PITTING, with time allocated for peer-to-peer discussion on moral injury. This approach is based on experience in the COVID pandemic where soldiers returning from supporting the civilian authorities have undergone a two-day recovery programme.

Each of the single Services also provide through-career mental resilience and stress management training. The MOD has also produced the HeadFIT website to encourage good management of mental fitness and an online Mental Health Fundamentals course is available to all Armed Forces personnel. Furthermore, from September 2021, all Armed Forces personnel will receive mandatory, annual, mental health and wellbeing briefing designed to increase awareness of mental health and the personal barriers that may prevent the seeking of support.

The UK is part of ongoing conversations with international allies, including the US on how best we can ensure maritime security in the Gulf and protect freedom of navigation. This is not connected to the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union.

Freedom of navigation is in every nation's interest; it is unacceptable to illegally seize a ship going about legitimate business in an internationally recognised shipping lane. Any action we take will be aimed at ensuring freedom of navigation is maintained.

We continue to work for stability in the region with the international community, and to uphold the international rules that protect us all.

The first duty of any Government is the safety and security of the British people at home and abroad. That is why we have committed to spending at least 2% of our GDP on Defence every year of this Parliament. We prioritise our Defence spending to ensure the British people and UK interests are protected. This includes making contributions to support and uphold our international relationships with key partners. As set out in the Political Declaration on the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union, the Government has offered to cooperate closely on defence and security, as part of an ambitious security partnership, on a case-by-case basis, where of mutual benefit.