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<p>The Ministry of Defence continues to sustain and deliver multiple intelligence,
surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) programmes in line with
our announcements during the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015. These capabilities
enable us to build our understanding across the five domains of Space, Maritime, Land,
Air and Cyber. We also continue to benefit from significant investment in our ability
to share intelligence across Government and with key Allies.</p><p> </p><p>During
2016, two major ISTAR programmes sponsored by Joint Forces Command and now in delivery
with the Royal Air Force received approval to proceed to the demonstration and manufacture
phases of the acquisition cycle. The P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft will be
operated from RAF Lossiemouth and enhance our ability to counter an increasing submarine
threat. Protector will replace Reaper as the UK's armed remotely piloted air system
(RPAS) capability and will be equipped with UK precision-guided weapons.</p><p> </p><p>Our
Signals Intelligence capability has been enhanced by improvements to Royal Navy platforms
and by the recent delivery of the third Airseeker aircraft.</p><p> </p><p>We have
also learned much from the investment in our ability to fuse open source intelligence
with more traditional sources, and our ability to analyse this increasing amount of
data will be improved by further investment in data science capabilities.</p><p> </p><p>Finally,
in order to ensure the UK remains one step ahead of our adversaries, we continue to
invest in science and technology to develop new sensors and improve our ability to
exploit information.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
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