In pictures: Shropshire MP Philip Dunne enters Pentagon for talks
[gallery] As working days go, this was one Shropshire MP Philip Dunne won't forget in a hurry.
He swapped the peace and beauty of his Ludlow constituency for the cut and thrust of high level international defence talks at the Pentagon in the American capital Washington.
Mr Dunne was Stateside on Tuesday for the meeting with American defence ministers Bob Work and Frank Kendall to discuss security issues affecting both the US and the UK. He was invited through his role as the British Government's head of defence procurement.
tweet id="626330882828304384"]
During the meeting Mr Work congratulated Mr Dunne on his promotion to minister of state and also commended the UK's commitment to spend two per cent of GDP on defence. Items believed to have been discussed included the UK's Strategic Defence and Security Review, innovation initiatives, capability management and associated US-UK collaboration opportunities.
They concluded the meeting by reaffirming their commitment to maintaining close coordination between the US Department of Defense and the UK Ministry of Defence.
While the exact content detail of the meetings was kept a secret, Mr Dunne's comments about Britain's security strategy may have been on the agenda.
The UK Government is currently undertaking a Strategic Defence Strategy Review, its first since 2010.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Mr Dunne said: "We are refreshing our national risk assessment, which is influencing our national security strategy, we do recognise a different threat environment."
His comments follow those from American defence officials that have recently identified Russia as America's top threat.
Mr Dunne's comments would seem to indicate that Britain also sees Russia as a more serious threat than it was five years ago.
Before he was appointed to his current role by David Cameron following May's general election, Mr Dunne had also served in the Government as a junior minister. He was minister for defence equipment, support and technology with responsibility for defence procurement and defence exports from 2012.
