Given the importance of autonomous systems to the future of warfare, we will continue to engage closely with our US counterparts as they establish an Autonomous Warfare Command and see what lessons apply to the UK Defence system.

The UK’s approach reflects our own operating model and structure. Defence is developing an integrated approach to optimise the balance between crewed, uncrewed and autonomous systems across the Armed Forces. This includes the establishment of the Uncrewed Systems Centre as a Defence centre of excellence alongside Defence’s Rapid AI Delivery (RAID) taskforce, to accelerate the development, integration and adoption of these capabilities. This is backed by a defence investment plan commitment of over £5 billion by 2030 in autonomous systems across the Integrated Force. This investment will support capabilities including the Hybrid Navy, uncrewed ground vehicles and Collaborative Combat Aircraft, increasing the mass, lethality and readiness of the Armed Forces while retaining appropriate human responsibility and accountability. We will continue to assess the most effective organisational arrangements for delivering these capabilities.

The Strategic Defence Review set out a shift towards greater use of autonomy and Artificial Intelligence within the UK's conventional forces, providing greater accuracy, lethality and cheaper capabilities. The Defence Investment Plan states that this transformation will deliver a cheaper capability, providing the Integrated Force with greater mass and increased lethality. The Defence Investment Plan further states that this shift supports an increase in warfighting readiness and lethality, significantly increasing mass. Defence is investing over £5 billion on autonomous systems to enable this transformation by 2030. This investment includes the Hybrid Navy Fleet, Uncrewed Ground Vehicles and Collaborative Combat Aircraft amongst others.

The information is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

There is a range of test and evaluation activity planned across Project CORVUS, Project NYX, Uncrewed Ground Vehicle development activities and other Army uncrewed and autonomous capability programmes. However, costs specific to test and evaluation are not accounted for separately from wider programme and operating costs.

The information is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

There is a range of Test and Evaluation activity planned across the Protector RG1 programme, the Stormshroud programme, Collaborative Combat Aircraft, and other technology development programmes. However, costs specific to Test and Evaluation are not accounted for separately from wider programme and operating costs.

The information required to answer the question is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost to the Department.

The UK's Defence Investment Plan (DIP) allocated £300 million specifically to launch a dedicated UK Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) programme. This targeted funding is aimed at kickstarting a domestic autonomous jet programme, with the government expecting a flying technology demonstrator by 2030.

Across the remainder of this Parliament the Ministry of Defence plans to spend £1.26 billion on Land domain uncrewed systems and £482 million on deployable counter drone systems for the Army. This latter figure does not include funding for counter drone systems being procured for UK Homeland Defence or deployable Ground Based Air Defence systems capable of targeting drones.

The breakdown of spend per Financial Year is not held centrally and therefore cannot be provided within this response.

The Royal Navy, with UK Defence Innovation support, continues to progress work on the Proteus Uncrewed Air System Technology Demonstrator. This work is part of the development of the Hybrid Air Wing recommended in the Strategic Defence Review and endorsed in the Defence Investment Plan.

As part of the Defence Investment Plan, the Department set out its plan to invest £150M in the development and production of uncrewed vehicles for the Army. I can confirm that work to develop and field uncrewed ground vehicle capability as part of the Army’s wider modernisation programme has commenced.

The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) directed the Army to increase its lethality tenfold by 2035. To support this ambition, the Army is transitioning towards a 20/40/40 fighting system, comprising a mix of survivable crewed platforms, attritable systems and consumable effectors.

The transition is already underway, with current effort focused on rapidly scaling the attritable elements and the accelerated adoption of autonomous and uncrewed systems. The Department does not currently define a single date at which the 20/40/40 mix will be deemed achieved; rather, it is being delivered progressively as part of the wider modernisation of the Army and implementation of the SDR.

The Uncrewed Systems Centre (USC) was launched on 13 Jun 2026 by the then Secretary of State. The USC will strengthen Defence's ability to develop, test, integrate and field uncrewed systems across the Armed Forces. It will bring together expertise from military, industry and academia to accelerate capability delivery, improve interoperability and exploit lessons from current operations. The Centre will support experimentation, training and the adoption of emerging technologies, ensuring Defence can respond rapidly to evolving threats. Through a more coherent and coordinated approach, the Centre will help deliver operational advantage and maximise the effectiveness of uncrewed systems in support of UK Defence objectives.

While Defence is actively researching, developing and experimenting with autonomous and collaborative behaviours, including swarming concepts, these activities remain in the assessment, experimentation and capability development phases and have not yet matured to a level suitable for operational service.

The Ministry of Defence does not hold a central record of all drones produced within the UK for military use.

Nevertheless, as highlighted by the Strategic Defence Review, drones now play an essential role in warfare across the land, maritime and air domains, which is why the Defence Investment Plan prioritises uncrewed systems, investing more than £5 billion in a plethora of platforms over the next four years alone. This funding will accelerate the transformation of our Armed Forces, rebuilding warfighting readiness and ensuring our forces are equipped for modern warfare.

To give just a few examples, £230 million will be spent on autonomous systems for seabed warfare to protect critical national infrastructure; £400m will be spent to deliver a suite of inexpensive, expendable autonomous systems and weapons to rapidly enhance the lethality of the Army, Commando Force and Special Forces; and we will invest £50 million on a variety of novel payloads, such as swarms of small drones, able to be launched from a wide range of crewed and uncrewed aircraft.

The Defence Investment Plan (DIP) outlined £150 million to commence a programme to rapidly develop and produce uncrewed vehicles for the Army, through UK industry.

This programme will build upon a substantial body of UK-funded research, development and experimentation undertaken by the Ministry of Defence, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, industry and academia over a number of years. This body of research has included operational analysis and experimentation of the employment of uncrewed ground vehicles and the development of autonomous solutions.

As part of the largest ever drone investment in Defence, we are spending over £5 billion on autonomous systems by 2030. Based on current plans, this equates to approximately 1.7% of the expenditure set out in the Plan's four-year funding period. I would expect this to increase further as the technologies, tactics and platforms mature.

The Defence Investment Plan (DIP) outlined £150 million to commence a programme to rapidly develop and produce uncrewed vehicles for the Army, through UK industry.

The investment will support the development and procurement of a range of uncrewed ground vehicles for the British Army. These systems are expected to span a variety of payload capacities and, where appropriate, will employ common-base platforms and modular payloads to provide flexibility and value for money.

The recent trial was successful demonstration of a novel deployment method for uncrewed surface vessels, demonstrating the potential for rapid deployment of autonomous maritime capabilities in contested or hard-to-access environments. Further information about the trial can be found at the following website:

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news/2026/july/08/20260708-uncrewed-vessels-airdropped-in-pioneering-trial-supported-by-royal-navy

No date has yet been set for the achievement of Initial Operating Capability for the deployment of uncrewed surface vessels from A400M aircraft. The capability remains subject to further testing and assessment.

The recent trial was successful demonstration of a novel deployment method for uncrewed surface vessels, demonstrating the potential for rapid deployment of autonomous maritime capabilities in contested or hard-to-access environments. Further information about the trial can be found at the following website:

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news/2026/july/08/20260708-uncrewed-vessels-airdropped-in-pioneering-trial-supported-by-royal-navy

No date has yet been set for the achievement of Initial Operating Capability for the deployment of uncrewed surface vessels from A400M aircraft. The capability remains subject to further testing and assessment.