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Daring Class
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The 5,200t Type 42 Sheffield Class destroyers were designed in the late 1960s to provide fleet area air-defence for Britain’s Royal Navy, after the proposed the Type 82 air defense cruisers were canceled by the Labour Government of 1966. Britain built 14 of the Type 42s, but these old ships are reaching the limits of their operational lives and effectiveness.

To replace them, the Royal Navy planned to induct 12 Type 45 Daring Class destroyers. The Daring class would be built to deal with a new age of threats: from saturation attacks with supersonic ship-killing missiles that fly from the ship’s radar horizon to impact in 45 seconds or less, to the reality of future threats from ballistic missiles and WMD proliferation. Overall, the Type 45s promise to be one of the world’s most capable air defense ships.

This feature will become a DID FOCUS article in due course. Meanwhile, a reduced 6-ship program continues to move forward. Several ships have been built, but full capability is still several years away. The latest developments include Defender’s launch, HMS Dauntless’ hand-over in Portsmouth, and a testing failure of the ships’ key defensive systems…

• The Type 45 Destroyer Program
• The Daring Class
• Type 45: Comparisons [NEW]
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings

The Type 45 Destroyer Program

HMS Southampton
- a Type 42
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A total of 14 Type 42s were built, but no ship lasts forever. HMS Sheffield and HMS Coventry were sunk in the 1982 Falklands War, and Birmingham, Newscastle, Glasgow, Cardiff, and Southampton are no longer in service. Another 2 have been downgraded by removing their defensive Sea Dart missiles as an ‘economy’ measure, and are in reserve, leaving just 5 operational ships.

The Type 45 destroyer project really began when the 8-nation NFR-90 frigate program fragmented into pieces. The USA and Canada elected not to pursue a modern frigate at all. Spain developed the 6,250t F100 AEGIS frigate, which it has now sold to Australia as the future Hobart Class. Holland and Germany developed the 5,700t F124 Sachsen/ LCF De Zeven Provincient Class air defense frigate. The UK, Italy, and France, meanwhile, embarked on the Horizon Class New Generation Common Frigate. In 1999, about 7 years after the initial requirement was floated, Britain dropped out of the NGCF project, citing a need for a larger ship, with wider air defense capabilities, and a British combat management system. Italy and France went on to order a total of 4 (2 each) 6,600t Horizon Class frigates.

Rather than using a modified variant of America’s multi-role 8,000t DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class, whose costs and performance were stable, Britain proposed to develop its own air warfare destroyer, with better high-end anti-air capabilities. The new 7,350t base/ 7,800t full displacement ships would share the MBDA PAAMS system, built on its Aster-15 and Aster-30 missiles, instead of the popular Raytheon SM-2/SM-3 missile family. PAAMS would be complemented by a different set of radar systems on the Type 45, but the Horizon Class had different radar fittings for each country anyway.

Horizon/Forbin Class
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In July 2000, Britain approved expenditure of GBP 5 billion, with a maximum acceptable cost of GBP 5.47 billion, to buy 6 Type 45 destroyers out of a planned class of 12. The first ship was expected to enter service in November 2007.

Since then, the project has experienced significant cost increases and delays, leading to a full contract renegotiation in 2007.

Plans originally called for 12 Type 45s. They would restore Britain’s anti-air capability by replacing the 14 Type 42 destroyers, and supplement Britain’s remaining Type 23 frigates given the Duke Class’ limited ability to cope with the newest threats. That number was cut to 8 Type 45s in 2004. Britain’s 2008 Defence Equipment Report listed the overall program as 36 months behind schedule and GBP 989 million (almost $2 billion) over budget. In June 2008, the British government declined its option on Daring Class ships #7 and 8.

The NAO’s current forecast is for GBP 6.46 billion for the 6 ships, and the destroyer’s official planned in-service date is now expected to fall in November 2010, a full 3 years later than planned. Unofficially, he UK MoD pushed toward a more challenging delivery date of December 2009. The ship was not delivered with all of its key systems tested and working, however; full capability for even the first ship of class may have to wait until 2014.

Ships of class will include:

• D32 HMS Daring
• D33 HMS Dauntless
• D34 HMS Diamond
• D35 HMS Dragon
• D36 HMS Defender
• D37 HMS Duncan

The first of class D32 Daring successfully completed contractor-led sea trials in September 2008, and Royal Navy sea trials in July 2009. HMS Daring will achieve limited operational capability in February 2010. D33 Dauntless completed her 2nd set of contractor-led sea trials in summer 2009, and was handed over in December 2009. D34 Diamond began sea trials in October 2009, and D36 Defender was launched on the Clyde river that same month. D35 Dragon is undertaking machinery trials in Scotstoun, and contractor-led trials are scheduled to begin in summer 2010. Sea trials for Dauntless and Diamond will also take place in 2010, and the 1st construction block of D37 Duncan is slated to get 2010 started by being moved to berth in January.

The Daring Class

Type 45 concept
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The final Type 45 design is 152.4m long and 21.2m wide, with a standard displacement of 7,350t and full displacement of 7,800t. The ships will cruise at 17 knots using all-electric propulsion, powered by 2 WR-21 advanced cycle gas turbine engines with intercooler and exhaust recuperator (ICR) heat exchangers. Each turbine will provide 25MW of power, and the propulsion systems will be built by a team that includes Rolls-Royce, Northrop Grumman, and Alsthom Power Conversion Ltd. Expected top speed is 27 knots, but in trials, HMS Daring reportedly bettered 30 knots with both turbines engaged. At 190 sailors, the embarked crew will be smaller than previous ships, with better accommodations and provisions for up to 235. The ship will also be able to carry up to 60 Royal Marines.

Daring Class weapons will include the 4.5-inch Mark 8 Mod 1 gun, and a pair 30 mm guns integrated to an Electro-Optic Gun Control System. While the ships have provision for a pair of guns like Raytheon’s 20mm Mk15 Phalanx or Thales’ 30mm Goalkeeper for last-ditch missile defense and close-in kills, the ships will not be fitted with them at first.

For anti-submarine use, the ships will rely on a multi-function MFS-7000 bow sonar, and Stingray anti-submarine torpedoes that must be launched from its helicopters, since the ship carries no torpedo tubes. The ship will also be equipped with the Surface Ship Torpedo Defence System, designed to protect the ship against the threat of the most advanced current and future torpedoes.

The embarked helicopters will initially be Lynx HMA Mark 8s, but could eventually be EH101 Merlins or AW159 Future Lynxs with all associated weapons. Since the Type 45s will not initially be fitted with any anti-ship missiles, they will be forced to depend on their helicopters for this capability, as well as for torpedo launch capabilities.

The Type 45’s main armament is its PAAMS air defense system, now known as “Sea Viper.” Sea Viper has several components.

The ship’s radars are what will really set it apart from previous vessels. BAE’s SAMPSON is an dual-face, active-array, digital beamforming radar that operates in the E/F bands, and can continuously and simultaneously illuminate a large number of targets for surveillance and fire control. It will be supplemented by the Long Range Radar (LRR), which is an evolution of Thales’ SMART-L active array volume search radar. The Thales/Marconi S1850M operates in the D-band, for wide air and surface search that can include ballistic missile tracking.

Once targets are detected, BAE’s combat system will be able to call on the ship’s 48-cell Sylver A50 vertical launcher system (VLS). That means a mix of up to 48 missiles that can include medium range Aster-15s with a 30 km/ 18 mile reach; or the longer range, ballistic missile defense capable Aster-30s with an 80-100 km/ 50-60 mile range. Sylver A50 launchers can quad-pack 4 short-range Crotale NG/VT-1 missiles per cell, but these weapons are not expected to be part of the Type 45’s armament.

CEC Concept
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The ships reportedly have space in front of the 48 cell Sylver A50 system to accommodate another 12-cell launcher, but will not initially be fitted for this.

At some point, currently expected to be 2014, the ships will also receive Co-operative Engagement Capability (CEC); a firm decision is expected in 2010. This American system gives fitted ships the ability to see what other CEC-equipped ships, aircraft, or land stations see, and to fire at targets the launching ship’s radars cannot see. It is vital for wide-area anti-air defense, and for ballistic missile defense.

For other tasks beyond air defense, DCNS’ Sylver A50 launchers are 5m long, and so are not able to carry Scalp (Storm Shadow) vertically-launched land attack cruise missiles, or other strike-length payloads. The 4.5m long VL-ASROC anti-submarine missile/torpedo would fit, but it is designed to work with the Mk 41 vertical launch system and would have to be integrated and tested. There is space abaft the PAAMS silos for mounting fixed missile launchers that could accommodate anti-ship and/or or anti-submarine missiles, but those spaces will be empty when the ships are built and accepted.

Type 45: Comparisons

HNLMS Tromp (F124 LCF)
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The 7,350t Type 45’s VLS holding capacity is smaller than the equivalent American Arleigh Burke Class destroyer’s 90-96 Mk41 cells, and at 48 cells is equivalent to Spain’s 6,250t F100 AEGIS frigates. Its missile array are considered to be similar to, but slightly more capable than, the RIM-162 Evolved Seasparrow/ SM-2 combination found on many other western anti-aircraft ships. The one key difference is that Aster-15s cannot be quad-packed in Sylver launchers the way the RIM-162 can be quad-packed in the popular Mk41 VLS. Whereas an F100 AEGIS frigate could carry a mix of 128 RIM-162 ESSMs and 16 SM-2s, therefore, a Daring Class ship would carry just 32 Aster-15s and 16 Aster-30s in the same number of launch cells.

On the other hand, Navantia’s F100 is restricted by the 2 SPG-62 radar illuminators it has available for continuous targeting of incoming missiles. Fast switching is less than optimal against supersonic missiles with terminal maneuvering, whereas the Sea Viper system has the option of continuous tracking and guidance, in order to make better use of the missiles it has against saturation attacks.

The smaller 5,700t Dutch F124 De Zeven Provincien Class air defense frigates are a better comparison with the Type 45s than Spain’s F100s, as they use a similar active array radar approach (Thales EMPAR/ SMART-L), giving them similar saturation attack capabilities. Dutch F124s are equipped with a 32-cell Mk. 41 VLS, allowing carriage of 48 quad-packed ESSM missiles and 16 SM-2s or SM-3s. Twin Harpoon launchers on deck add an anti-ship capability that the Type 45s lack, torpedo tubes offer snap-response anti-submarine capability whether or not a helicopter is in the air, and their 2 Goalkeeper 30mm CIWS systems offer a last-ditch defense option that the Type 45s will not have on board unless they are upgraded. Like Navantia’s F100s, the F124s’ ballistic missile defense capabilities and CEC compatibility are partially proven, as they have been used in exercises with the US Navy to track incoming missiles during tests.

Many of these design differences trace back to the project’s fundamental mandate, when Britain’s government decided that it preferred to leverage and extend the investments they had made in the PAAMS system before Britain left the Horizon Class project, while pursuing its own destroyer design instead of buying or modifying a different off-the-shelf design. That decision forced the Sylver/Aster missile combination instead of the Mk. 41, while overruns and the need for cost containment cut further into the Type 45’s fielded capabilities.

Contracts and Key Events

Daring’s trials
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[Editor’s note: this section is not yet comprehensive and will be expanded in the future.]

Dec 18/09: The News of Portsmouth reports that problems with the PAAMS system could delay HMS Daring’s in-service date:

Oct 20/09: BVT Surface Fleet’s shipyard at Govan, in Glasgow, launches Defender, the 5th Type 45 anti-air warfare destroyer. The ship is already 65% complete, and the team has outfitted the ship to the maximum weight possible ahead of launch; the electrical systems on board are already live. Focus will now turn to completing systems and commissioning power and propulsion and combat systems, ahead of her hand over to the Royal Navy on schedule in 2012. UK MoD | Royal Navy | BAE Systems.

Sept 16/09: The UK MoD issues a GBP 309 million (currently $510 million), 7-year support contract for its Type 45 fleet. The majority of maintenance work will be carried out around the class’ home port of Portsmouth Naval Base, and the effort is expected to support about 120 jobs directly. Royal Navy Rear Admiral Bob Love adds that:

“The Type 45 support solution is an innovative contract which sees the prime contractor for the build of the ships providing in-service support…. BVT will manage equipment availability to agreed targets, incentivising them to minimise the cost of support by improving equipment reliability. This is the first time this arrangement has been used for a major warship.”

The BAE Systems and VT Group joint venture and shipbuilder BVT Surface Fleet will act as the Class Output Manager (COM) and will co-ordinate all aspects of support delivery to the ship including maintenance, supply chain and design management, managing obsolescence issues, incorporating support-related changes where required, as well as planning and optimizing support to reduce cost and maintenance over time. Built-in contract flexibility will accommodate variations in the operational profile that don’t require any contract changes.

Availability of the ships’ major systems will be handled through BVT partnerships with Thales, BAE Systems Insyte, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine, Ultra and Converteam. UK MoD | BAE Systems.

March 13/09: Brtain’s National Audit Office (NAO) issues a report covering the Type 45 Daring Class program, which it says has improved since the 2007 contract renegotiation.

With respect to the program’s present and future, its worries are threefold: cost, capabilities, and coverage. With respect to cost, NAO estimates that a program once estimated at GBP 5 billion will now cost a total of GBP 6.46 billion for 6 ships. The NAO adds that the MoD’s decision to create 2 timelines with different official/corporate dates, and “no problems” target dates, can create a time mismatch between project requirements and allocated funds.

With respect to capabilities, HMS Daring reportedly lacks some communications systems over 2 years after its 2006 launch, and will not be fully operational with its main “Sea Viper” air defense system until 2011. Specifically, HMS Daring will enter into service before the Aster missiles are first fired from a destroyer, and before the full on-board PAAMS training package is complete in mid 2011, although the missiles will have been tested on the Longbow barge. Co-operative engagement capability (CEC), which gives fitted ships the ability to see what other CEC-equipped ships or land stations see, and to fire at targets the launching ship’s radars cannot see, will not be present until 2014 at the earliest. It is vital for wide-area anti-air defense, and for ballistic missile defense.

With respect to coverage, the NAO says that “The Department’s policy requirement is to have five ships available for tasking at any time. It will be challenging to meet this requirement, established when the Department intended to buy eight ships [with only 6 ships].” NAO Report | Royal Navy response | BBC News.

Feb 4/09: The “Sea Viper” PAAMS air defense system is successfully fired from a 12,000t trials barge parked near the Ile du Levant, off the French coast. The target for this 2nd live fire test is designed to simulate a low-level anti-ship missile at close range, and the test is reportedly successful.

The Longbow barge has a full replica of the air defence equipment the new Type 45 destroyers will carry, including long-range and missile- directing radars, a combat control centre and missiles in their vertical launcher silos. Royal Navy.

Jan 28/09: Britain officially names the PAAMS air defense system “Sea Viper.” The name refers to the combination of the ships’ Sampson fire control radar and S1850M volume search radar, the combat system, the Sylver vertical launch system, and the MBDA’s Aster-15 and Aster-30 missiles carried inside the Sylver cells.

Dragon’s launch
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Dec 17/08: HMS Dauntless returns from 4 weeks of sea trials, which tested her power and propulsion and Combat System gunnery. Her second set of sea trials is due in July 2009, and will focus on fuller Combat System testing and pre-acceptance activity. Royal Navy

Dec 14/08: Britain’ unofficial Navy Matters site offers its year in review. The overall recap is strongly negative for the Royal Navy as a whole, and it has this to say about the “accelerated” Future Surface Combatant program that is slated to replace the 7th and 8th Type 45 destroyers, as well as Britain’s Type 23 Duke Class frigates:

“At the time of the T45 Batch 3 cancellation it was stated that the MOD was “bringing forward the replacement programme for [the] Type 22 and 23 frigates”, apparently to 2018. This is a quite aggressive timescale but six months later there is no sign that the Future Surface Combatant is about to become a stand alone “Assessment Phase” project, indeed the MOD’s Frigates Integrated Project Team is apparently investigating whether the Type 22 Batch 3 frigates could remain in service until at least 2020 – a five year extension compared to currently announced plans.”

It lists the fact that all 6 Type 45 destroyers are under construction, with 4 already launched, as part of the year’s slim good news section.

Dec 12/08: The Royal Navy provides an instructive update on Diamond, which was launched in November 2007:

“The external appearance is taking shape with the installation of major equipments such as radars, aerials, missile launchers and the installation of the 4.5 inch gun. The internal layout is also progressing nicely with the Operations Room fully fitted out and a large proportion of equipment that support weapon and sensor systems are also in place. The propulsion machinery and integral systems are nearing completion. The diesel generators have been run and load trialled, and the WR21 gas turbines are planned to be run in early 2009, culminating in a Basin Trial at Easter. Installation of the auxiliary equipment is now the main focus, with most of the shipbuilder’s efforts currently on the vast amount of wiring, cabling and optical fibre that goes into a Type 45 Destroyer…. The next milestone for the ship will be her first set of sea trails planned for autumn 2009.”

Dec 10/08: Daring is formally handed over to the MOD in an Acceptance-off-Contract ceremony at the Scotstoun shipyard on the Clyde. HMS Daring is due to sail to her home port of Portsmouth in January 2009 to undertake 12 months of exhaustive Stage 2 trials and training, before she is declared ready for operational service.

Since being launched by the Countess of Wessex in 2006, Daring has been fitted with elements of the Principal Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS), and her long range and multi-function radars. UK MoD release.

Nov 17/08: Dragon is launched into the Clyde from BVT’s shipyard at Govan near Glasgow, complete with a Welsh Dragon on its bow. The destroyer has yet to receive critical equipment like radar and mission systems, which will be nstaled during the final phases of construction. Royal Navy.

June 19/08: Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth admits in the House of Commons that Gordon Brown’s Labour government has declined the option on the 7th and 8th Daring Class destroyers. So far, HMS Daring has participated in sea trials, while Dauntless and Diamond have been launched. Dragon has all sections fully joined but has not been launched yet, while Defender and Duncan will complete the class. Steel cutting on Duncan began in March 2008.

The Hon. Mr. Ainsworth added that the entire Armed Forces equipment program was being reviewed in light of planned budgets, which most observers believe means cuts in store for the Army (FRES seen as the biggest target) and Air Force (Tranche 3 Typhoon fighters in question). At the same time, Ainsworth said that Britain’s Future Surface Combatant to replace the smaller Type 22 and Type 23 frigates was being moved forward. This may or may not be significant; no timeline was specified, and promises surrounding distant “out-year” programs must always be viewed with great skepticism.

On the industrial front, reaction was muted. This is true in part because Clyde and Portsmouth yards’ immediate future were safeguarded in May 2008 with confirmation that both sites will share in construction of the Royal Navy’s 2 full-size Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers between 2009-2016. BAE Systems and the VT Group, who build the Type 45s, will also share that contract, and are expected to share in future surface combatant construction and maintenance contracts via their forthcoming joint venture.

A navy that has already seen its number of surface combatants sink below the level of the French fleet for the first time since the 17th century will view this as a bitter blow, but the budgetary math is remorseless. The move was condemned by the Conservative Party, who warned that 6 ships were not adequate, and could mean as few as 3 operational Daring Class ships on station at any given time. In an unusual move within the Parliamentary system, prominent Labour Party MP and former chairman of the Defence Select Committee Bruce George also warned that:

“It has now reached the point where, in terms of personnel and in terms of equipment, [the UK armed forces] is inadequate to take the [global missions] stance that is being taken…. Lives are lost if equipment is inadequate and wars can be lost if equipment is inadequate.”

Coverage: Daily Mail | Financial Times | Glasgow Evening Times | The Herald of Glasgow | Portsmouth News | This is London | UK Shipping Times. Non-British readers might note that “Six of the Best…” is a double entendre that can also refer to the school punishment of six hits with a cane.

Nov 27/07: Diamond is launched. Her motto is “Honor clarissima gemma,” (trans: Honour is the brightest jewel).

July 18/07: HMS Daring sails under its own steam for the very first time, escorted by tugs from BAE Systems Scotstoun.

Additional Readings

• Royal Navy – Type 45 News

• UK National Audit Office (March 13/09) – Providing Anti Air Warfare Capability: the Type 45 destroyer

• UK Parliament Select Committee on Public Accounts Minutes of Evidence (Jan 15/01) – Examination of Witnesses (Questions 20 – 39).

Additional Readings: Equipment

• Royal Navy – Air Defence Destroyer (Type 45)

• Royal Navy – HMS Daring: The Warfare Department

• Navy Matters – Type 45 (“D Class”) Destroyer. Comprehensive.

• Navy Matters – SAMPSON Maulti-Function Radar

• Navy Matters – PAAMS – Principal Anti Air Missile System. Now called “Sea Viper” by the Royal Navy.

• MBDA – Aster 15 & 30 PAAMS: Principal Anti-Air Missile system

• Deagel – S1850M [Radar]

• DCNS – Sylver. Stands for “SYsteme de Lancement VERtical,” French for “vertical launch system.”

• Wikipedia – Sylver launcher.

• DID Spotlight – CEC: Cooperative Engagement for Fleet Defense

• Rolls Royce – WR-21 Marine Gas Turbine