Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Uncrewed Defence Systems

Monday 15 December 2025 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Fred Thomas highlighted the importance of developing and adopting uncrewed defence systems quickly and safely in Britain.
  • Rebecca Smith raised concerns about the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's workboat code edition 3 hindering the testing and development of autonomous vessels in her constituency.
  • The Minister acknowledged the regulatory challenges faced in testing and trialling uncrewed systems in both maritime and air spaces.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Fred Thomas Lab Plymouth Moor View
Defence Science & Technology
Context

Britain's future security depends on developing, testing, and adopting uncrewed defence systems quickly and safely. However, the regulation is complex and involves multiple departments including the MOD, DfT, and DSTI.

Question

Britain’s future security depends on developing, testing and, crucially, adopting uncrewed systems quickly and safely, but the regulation is immensely complex. It spans many Departments, including the Ministry of Defence, the Department for Transport and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. The regulators include the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Military Aviation Authority, Ofcom and the Environment Agency. The list goes on—it is endless—and for the military, the police, the agencies and our innovators, the barriers are stifling. My hon. Friend will know that I have worked with stakeholders to develop proposals for reform, which he has seen, and I know that the MOD, the Department for Transport and even the Treasury are considering them, but to make real progress, we need coherence in this area. Will he now help me to convene a meeting of all the key regulators across the Departments to drive this forward?

Answer from The Minister for the Armed Forces (Al Carns)

My hon. Friend’s passion and support for this subject are not lost on me. The reality is that the majority of casualties on the frontline in Ukraine are caused by uncrewed systems. We have a navy without any ships that has destroyed a navy, and we have an air force with a minimal amount of fighter jets delivering strikes deep within Russia. With the dedication of the UK uncrewed system centre, which will open later on this year, we are establishing a centralised body of expertise to cut across the regulation and align regulatory freedoms with defence, to ensure that we can reduce that friction and improve assurance. I would love to meet my hon. Friend and the collective organisations to move this forward at pace. Enough is enough when it comes to regulation; we need to get on with it and we are going to double down over the next 12 months.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not explicitly commit to convening a meeting of all key regulators across Departments, instead referenced establishing expertise in uncrewed systems centre

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Q2 Rebecca Smith Con South West Devon
Defence Transport Science & Technology
Context

Turnchapel Wharf and the Cattewater in South West Devon host many marine autonomous defence innovators. However, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s workboat code edition 3 is hampering their testing and development.

Question

Turnchapel Wharf and the Cattewater in my constituency host many marine autonomous defence innovators, but the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s workboat code edition 3 is hampering the testing, development and utilisation of autonomous vessels. They cannot even get the licences to be out on the water. What conversations has the Minister had with his counterparts in the Department for Transport to stress the urgency of sorting out this issue, so that the promised defence investment for Plymouth actually gets out to sea?

Answer from The Minister for the Armed Forces (Al Carns)

It is not lost on me that the testing and trialling of systems, in both the maritime and the air space, is full of regulatory issues and hurdles. We have had a couple of meetings with the Department for Transport, and we have a firm grasp of the problem. We now need to move this forward and unlock legislation to ensure that it is easier and far faster for those companies not only to develop cutting-edge technology and get it into the open market but to procure it for defence.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Did not specify any concrete outcomes or timeline from conversations with DfT, instead referenced ongoing efforts to address regulatory issues

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