Royal Navy to study extending Type 45 destroyers service life

Having previously been committed to an out of service date of 2035-38, the MoD now says it has set aside money to study whether the Type 45 destroyers will need to be extended in service. The Type 83 replacement programme has been abandoned, and the alternative Hybrid Navy vision of Common Combat Vessels (CCV) and uncrewed platforms to replace the capability is far from mature.

The answer to a parliamentary question on 27 August confirms that the Defence Investment Plan includes funding for a study into the transition between Type 45 and the Hybrid Navy Maritime Air Defence system. It does not commit to retaining the destroyers, only to examining whether an extension will be required. The decision will be made sometime in 2027-28.

A bridge between fleets

Before the Defence Investment Plan changed direction, the Future Air Dominance System (FADS) was described as a portfolio centred on the Type 83 destroyer. It was intended to combine maritime Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD), long-range precision strike, networked sensors and directed-energy weapons. FADS is intended to be a system-of-systems approach in which other warships, aircraft, satellites and uncrewed platforms would contribute to the air picture and weapons engagement process.

The government announced in June that at least six Common Combat Vessels (CCVs) will replace the Type 45s, with deliveries expected from the early 2030s. The CCVs will act as control hubs for Type 91 missile platforms and Type 94 radar pickets, rather than functioning as conventional destroyers.

The last Type 45 is currently scheduled to leave service by the end of 2038. That creates a brief for overlap, but only if the CCVs and Type 9X can be built, integrated, tested and worked up within the next decade.

The most difficult part of developing a hybrid naval air defence capability is not the hulls. It will be the logistics, command and control and secure, resilient network connecting sensors, decision-makers and weapons. A Type 45 carries its radar, combat system and missiles in one ship. The distributed model separates those functions. That offers greater dispersion and potentially more missile capacity, but it also creates dependence on communications that may be jammed, attacked or disrupted. While the ‘system of systems’ has the advantage of increased reach and reduced vulnerability through distribution, it adds complexity. Rather than a self-contained and self-sustaining warship, there are many more moving parts, each requiring its own supporting Defence Lines of Development (DLOD). The RN will be the first navy in the world to attempt to replace conventional air defence destroyers; while this is theoretically possible with appropriate funding and effort, it will take time to develop

Money spent

Even before the demise of Type 83, we predicted the Type 45s would be extended in service. The RN is already investing heavily in 3 separate upgrades to the class, a programme that will not be fully completed until 2032.

The Power Improvement Project (PIP) replaces the original diesel generators, refurbishes the WR21 gas turbines and adds electrical resilience for future weapons and sensors. The work followed years of propulsion problems and poor availability. PIP is a major conversion of the propulsion system, not just the addition of a diesel engine or a routine refit.

The class is also receiving 24 additional Sea Ceptor missile cells, increasing the potential magazine from 48 to 72 anti-air missiles, HMS Defender being the first ship to receive the new silo. Sea Viper is being upgraded in parallel. The £405M programme includes Aster 30 Block 1 missiles, improvements to the Sampson radar and updates to the command and combat management systems. A later phase is intended to examine Aster 30 Block 1NT, offering a more capable response to ballistic missile threats. The official programme announcement described the work as a near-decade modernisation effort.

These projects will improve availability and combat power, but they are not automatically a full life extension. A genuine extension would also require decisions on hull condition, cabling, machinery wear, software obsolescence, habitability and future support costs. The PIP gives the ships more electrical power and more reliable propulsion but does not mitigate for the fact that the ships are over 20 years old. The formal planning assumption for Type 45 was a 25-year in-service life, although well over 30 years is quite achievable. The steel plating of their hulls is thicker than the Type 23 frigates and, in basic terms, will stand up better to corrosion. Due to their propulsion issues early in their careers, they have spent more time alongside than envisaged and their hulls have not suffered the same levels of fatigue as the frigates

What the study must decide

A full six-ship extension is one possible answer, but may not be the most affordable or useful option. Selectively extending several destroyers could preserve a high-end air-defence force while the CCVs and Type 9X platforms undergo trials. The upgrade work already under way could provide the baseline for that bridge.

In an ideal world, with the RN adequately funded, Type 83 design work would continue while uncrewed capabilities were developed in parallel. Acceptable progress could deliver new destroyers from around 2040, avoiding the need to keep ageing ships in service, something the RN already has considerable and unfortunate experience of.

In order to reduce risk, the study should set clear conditions to be met before the Type 45s can be fully retired. The CCV must have a mature combat system, the Type 9X platforms must demonstrate reliable operation in all weather conditions, the data network must function under electronic attack, and sufficient people, missile stocks, maintenance and support arrangements must be in place.

The parliamentary answer is cautious, but the underlying issue is straightforward. The RN is investing in Type 45 systems that will remain relevant into the 2030s while assuming that an unproven distributed architecture can take on the fleet’s air-defence burden. A properly planned life extension would buy time for that architecture to prove itself and provide an interim fallback if the uncrewed concept takes longer, costs more or delivers less than expected. If the CCVs are based on the Type 31 frigate, the design should also offer enough volume, stability and growth margin to become a reasonably credible air-defence combatant if the Hybrid Navy concept proves unworkable in the long term.

Continuity of the RN’s fleet air-defence capability is non-negotiable. As drone and missile threats proliferate, a navy without highly effective air-defence ships will no longer be relevant, or even a liability.

Original post here – https://www.navylookout.com/royal-navy-to-study-extending-type-45-destroyer-service-life/