Select Committee · Defence Committee

Future Aviation Capabilities

Status: Closed Opened: 10 Sep 2023 Closed: 3 Sep 2025 2 recommendations 13 conclusions 1 report

This inquiry was originally conducted during the 2019 Parliament and was interrupted by the 2024 general election. In November 2024 the re-established committee agreed to complete the inquiry. Following the conclusion of its first inquiry into aviation procurement, the Committee is now launching a new follow-on inquiry which will focus on future aviation capabilities. The …

Reports

1 report

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
3rd report - The Global Combat Air Programme	HC 598	14 Jan 2025	15	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

3 items

9 Conclusion 3rd report - The Global Combat Air Prog… Acknowledged

Support and encourage Japan's legislative progress to enable successful GCAP fighter exports.

The Committee was greatly encouraged by Japan’s recognition of the importance of exports to their GCAP partners. Nonetheless, Japan’s inexperience as a defence exporter is likely to present unique challenges for GCAP which were not in evidence for Typhoon. The UK government must continue to support and encourage Japan in …

Government response. The government acknowledges the importance of exportability, states future exports are recognized in the GCAP treaty, and expresses confidence that partners are implementing necessary policy measures to achieve export goals.

Ministry of Defence

12 Conclusion 3rd report - The Global Combat Air Prog… Acknowledged

Failure to capitalise on Hawk success led to loss of UK manufacturing capacity.

The Hawk trainer aircraft has been a UK defence export success story, but with domestic production lines closing four years ago the skills and manufacturing capacity which had built up over decades will prove challenging and costly to regenerate. We recognise that innovative training solutions, including modular aircraft and synthetics, …

Government response. The government acknowledges that further investment is needed for the Hawk T2 to meet its 2040 out-of-service date and is currently assessing alternative options for the program.

Ministry of Defence

15 Conclusion 3rd report - The Global Combat Air Prog… Acknowledged

GCAP must break the mould of previous multilateral defence programme failures.

Whilst progress to date has been positive, previous multilateral defence programmes have frequently seen costs spiral and delays pile up and GCAP will have to break the mould if it is to achieve its ambitious target date. Decisions made at this early stage around partnerships, delivery structures and workshare by …

Government response. The government expresses gratitude for the report and affirms GCAP has been designed to learn lessons from previous programs, acknowledging the importance of the program and commitment to working with partners and Parliament.

Ministry of Defence

Oral evidence sessions

3 sessions

Date	Witnesses
21 Feb 2024	Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton KCB · Ministry of Defence, James Cartlidge MP · Ministry of Defence, Lieutenant General Rob Magowan CB CBE · Ministry of Defence, Richard Berthon OBE · Ministry of Defence	View ↗
24 Jan 2024	Herman Claesen · BAE Systems, Ian Waddell · The Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU), Mr Rhys McCarthy · Unite the Union, Nick Laird CBE · Spirit AeroSystems, Simon Barnes · BAE Systems, Tristan Crawford · AERALIS	View ↗
9 Jan 2024	Brian Phillipson · Eurofighter GmbH, Lucia Retter · RAND Europe, Professor Trevor Taylor · RUSI, Tim Rowntree · OCCAR	View ↗

Correspondence

2 letters

Date	Direction	Title
27 Mar 2025	—	Letter dated 27th March to Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry follow…
14 May 2024	—	Letter dated 25 April from Chair to Boeing relating to E-7 Wedgetail.