What will the Navy’s modern military look like and what will replace the destroyers?
The Royal Navy is set to procure at least six new ‘joint warships’ (CCVs) as the government looks to modernize its military and prioritize drones.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) has confirmed that these new ships will act as key hubs for crewless systems designed to extend the Navy’s reach and firepower without a “proportionate increase” in crew or cost.
As a result, earlier plans to replace the fleet of six Type 45 destroyers with a new class of guided missile warship, the Type 83 destroyer, were cancelled.
Type 45
The Type 45 destroyer is the ship the Government is trying to replace.
The Royal Navy has six Type 45s, which it describes as “the pride of the naval fleet”.
Nicknamed the Brave Class, the ship is 152 meters long, can have a range of 7,000 nautical miles at 30 knots, and specializes in anti-aircraft and anti-missile warfare.
The ships have a flight deck and an advanced radar system that can track airborne and surface objects up to 250 miles away.
The ships feature the Sea Viper air defense missile system, which can launch eight missiles in under 10 seconds, as well as numerous other weapons, including two 7.62 mm miniguns and six general-purpose machine guns.
The fleet was built between 2003 and 2012, entered service in 2009, and has recently been used to combat drone warfare.
In December 2023, HMS Diamond intercepted a drone reportedly en route to commercial shipping using a Sea Viper missile.
Sea Viper missiles are reported to cost £1-2 million, while drones are significantly cheaper.
The Royal Navy website says it also shot down drones in the Red Sea and intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen in April 2024.
Type 83
The Type 83 destroyer was originally planned to replace the Type 45 and enter service in the mid-to-late 2030s.
The guided missile warship, which the previous government first mentioned in 2021, was still in the concept development phase and no features of the design had been made public.
In April, when defense minister Luke Pollard took over the Labor Government’s Type 83 fleet concept, he said the fleet was “underdeveloped”.
It also revealed that around £1 million had been spent on platform-specific design over the last three financial years for the now-derelict Type 83 fleet.
The Type 83 was proposed to work in conjunction with other weapon systems to protect the fleet from air attack as part of the Future Air Dominance System (FADS), which former defense secretary James Cartlidge called a “system of systems”.
In parallel, the Type 83 would be able to deal with the hypersonic missile threat.
Joint warships
The new defense investment plan (Dip) means the Navy will commission drawings and designs for new, crewless, drone-compatible ships expected to be delivered in the early 2030s.
Therefore, details about its dimensions, shape, capabilities and cost are currently unknown.
Ministry of Defense said new ships “It will serve as a control center for crewless systems and Navy Reach, endurance and firepower without a commensurate increase in crew or cost.
A report prepared by a specialist publication Navy In one concept for how the CCVs would operate, Lookout said each crewed CCV “is flanked by at least two large uncrewed surface ships performing a variety of roles, such as air defense or anti-submarine warfare, as the missions require.”
Defense Minister Dan Jarvis said: “These CCVs will provide our sailors with hybrid ships designed and built for the increasing threats we face.
“Developed with outstanding British innovators, the new ships will be British-built, supporting jobs across the country and giving the Royal Navy a capability built for modern warfare.”
The MoD added that their “adaptable design” will mean CCVs can be exported globally.
