READERS often ask me about my ministerial responsibilities at the Ministry of Defence.

It is a fascinating time to be Minister for Defence Procurement as the defence budget is growing again and the equipment plan is very extensive.

The department’s budget has a double lock on growth - it must be at least two per cent of the economy each year and must grow every year after inflation by 0.5 per cent.

The 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review outlines how we plan to spend £178 billion over the next decade to equip our Armed Forces.

This is the year of the Navy, as the first of two new aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth, the largest warship the Royal Navy has ever had, sails for the first time from the shipyard in Rosyth and after extensive sea trials, docks at her new jetty in Portsmouth harbour.

We have already taken delivery of nine of the amazing F35B Short Take-off and Vertical Landing fighter jets and RAF pilots are currently training to fly them in the United States. Some of the pilots used to fly the Harrier Jump Jet and they assert that this new jet is a wonderful improvement.

Although we are buying 138 American F35s for UK use, 15 per cent of every single one of the 3,000 in the global programme is built here in the UK. The global hub for avionic repair and maintenance in this hemisphere will also be in the UK.

The Army is also procuring new land vehicles, attack helicopters and we are also investing in complex weapons upgrades and cyber security.

On her first day in Parliament as Prime Minister, Theresa May overwhelmingly won a vote on the renewal of our nuclear deterrent.

The four Dreadnought submarines will replace the current Vanguard class and ensure that we have a continuous nuclear at sea deterrent for decades.

As you read this column, a submarine is out in the depths of the ocean, ever vigilant, keeping us safe 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every week of the year.