Type 45 Daring destroyer
Program History
Based on the current assessment of the threat, the Equipment Capability Customer identified a requirement for a Class of up to 12 Type 45 Destroyers. However, this assumption can, and will, be subject to continuing critical operational analysis, taking into account up to date intelligence about the future threat. As of 2006 the Type 45 was planned as a class of eight ships. Approval had, so far, only been given for six ships.
In April 1999, the Defence Ministers of the United Kingdom, France and Italy decided not to proceed with the collaborative Common New Generation Frigate program and the UK decided to procure the Type 45 Destroyer as a national solution to the United Kingdom requirement. The Type 45 Destroyer program builds on the Assessment work carried out in Phase 1 of the collaborative HORIZON project, the warship element of the Common New Generation Frigate program.
Following the decision of the three HORIZON partners (France, Italy and the UK) to proceed with PAAMS, but to pursue national warship programs, BAE SYSTEMS was appointed Prime Contractor for the Type 45 in November 1999. PAAMS Assessment is complete and the contract for PAAMS Full Scale Engineering Development and Initial Production was placed in August 1999. Work was underway to achieve Main Gate approval for the warship and to place a contract for Demonstration and First of Class Manufacture by September 2000.
The Type 42 Destroyers were gradually replaced by the new Type 45 Destroyers. The new Type 45 Destroyers were expected to be considerably cheaper to operate and support than the Type 42 Destroyers, the first of which entered service in 1977. The Department estimated in 2000 that, in net total, it will cost an additional £537 million to operate and support the existing Type 42 Destroyers because of the 57 month delay, assuming that the schedule for retiring the Type 42s and commissioning the Type 45s remains as envisaged when the Department was committed to the collaborative Project Horizon programme. The greatest cost driver is expenditure on spares due to the age of the Type 42 Destroyers. Annual spares costs for each Type 42 are on average some £12 million compared to an average £4 million expected for the Type 45. Operating costs should also be less when the Type 45 enters service. For example, the complement anticipated for each Type 45 is 72 fewer than that for the Type 42, an annual cost saving of £2.3 million per vessel. The net additional support costs are accompanied by a substantial deferral of acquisition expenditure because of the delay in the planned ship order dates.
On 11 July 2000 Geoff Hoon announced that the Government had approved the construction of the first three Type 45 Anti Air Warfare Destroyers for the Royal Navy, within a planned class of up to 12. A £1 billion order for the construction of the first three ships of the class and long-lead items for up to three further ships with prime contractor BAE SYSTEMS was placed in december 2000. BAE SYSTEMS Electronics is the prime contractor for the Demonstration and First of Class Manufacture contract covering the first three vessels. The vessels will be constructed under sub-contract with two expected to be assembled by BAE SYSTEMS Marine and one by Vosper Thornycroft. At that time a further order, for the construction of the second batch of three ships, was expected to be placed with the prime contractor around 2004.
The contract procurement of a further three Type 45s was placed with the Prime Contractor in February 2002. The ships are being built under sub-contract by BAE Systems Naval Ships and VT Shipbuilding.
On March 28, 2003 Defence Procurement Minister Lord Bach officially launched production of HMS Daring, first of the new Type 45 class of Anti-Air Warfare Destroyer, at BAE Systems' shipyard at Govan in Glasgow.
The Type 45 Destroyer was forecast to enter service in November 2007, almost five years later than the date forecast for its predecessor, the tri-national Common New Generation Frigate. The in-service date was re-defined from September 2007 to November 2007 to include two months Operational Sea Trials but the program for delivery of the ships had not changed.
The contract, with BAE Systems as the Prime Contractor, was for six ships with orders for further ships expected later in the decade. The ships will be built by BAE Systems on the Clyde and by Vosper Thornycroft at Portsmouth.
During the year 2006 significant progress in the manufacture of the first three ships. The first ship, HMS Daring, was launched February 2006 and during the course of the following year was fitted with most of her equipment ahead of her first sea trials in 2007. The second, HMS Dauntless, and third, HMS Diamond, ships were on schedule. Main manufacture of the fourth ship, HMS Dragon, started during 2006. On the PAAMS program, the Sampson Multi-Function Radar demonstrated its ability to track targets; a production standard Long Range Radar was in operation at the Type 45 shore integration facility; and the Aster missile development programme is nearing completion following a number of successful firings during 2005.
On 23 January 2007 the Type 45 Destroyer HMS Dauntless was launched on the Clyde by Lady Burnell-Nugent, wife of the Commander In Chief of the Fleet.
On 14 August 2007 the Ministry Of Defence reported that the Royal Navy's newest and most sophisticated destroyer - to be called HMS Daring - had successfully completed demanding sea trials off the Scottish coast. Minister for the Armed Forces, Bob Ainsworth, said: "The Type 45 is an immensely powerful state of the art destroyer that will provide a vital layer of protection from missile attack for the fleet. Daring's success at sea - when I gather she exceeded her design speed of 29 knots - is an excellent start to the intensive trials phase that will now begin as we bring her world-leading missile defence system into full operation."
As of mid-2009 the Type 45 Daring class super-destroyer was two years behind schedule and £1.4 billion over budget.
