Hello everyone, welcome back again with us at Military TV.
For today we will discuss another episode about the world's best air-defense ship,
“Type 45 destroyer or Daring-class” from the United Kingdom.
The Type 45 Destroyer is more than just a ship: it’s a symbol of Britain’s eminent place on the
world stage and a powerful deterrent. It is a new class of Anti-Air Warfare Destroyer to replace the
Royal Navy's existing Type 42 that had served during the Falklands War, with the last Type 42
being decommissioned in 2013. After the launch of Daring on 1 February 2006 Admiral Sir Alan West,
a former First Sea Lord, stated that it would be the Royal Navy's most capable destroyer ever,
as well as the world's best air-defense ship. The class is primarily designed for anti-aircraft
and anti-missile warfare and is built around the PAAMS or (Sea Viper) air-defense system utilizing
the SAMPSON AESA and the S1850M long-range radars. The first three destroyers were assembled by BAE
Systems Surface Fleet Solutions from partially prefabricated "blocks" built at different
shipyards; the remaining three were built by BAE Systems Maritime Naval Ships. The first ship in
the Daring class, HMS Daring, was launched on 1 February 2006 and commissioned on 23 July 2009.
On the development of Type 45 Daring Class. BAE Systems and VT Shipbuilding formed a
joint venture, BVT Surface Fleet, for the design, manufacture and support of UK surface warships in
July 2008. In January 2009, VT Group announced its intention to sell its holding in the BVT
surface fleet joint venture to BAE Systems, following UK MoD approval. In October 2009,
BAE Systems acquired the VT Group’s 45% stake and renamed the entity BAE Systems Surface Ships.
The Type 45 project has been criticized for rising costs and delays, with the six ships costing £6.46
billion, an increase of £1.5 billion (29%) on the original budget. The first ship entered service in
2010, rather than 2007 as initially planned. In 2007, the Defense Select Committee expressed its
disappointment that the Ministry of Defense and BAE had failed to control rising costs.
Leave that matter for a while, and now let's consider the capabilities of Type 45 Destroyer.
We start with design and features. Type 45 Daring Class destroyer has a
length of 152 meters, a beam of 21.2 meters and is capable of accommodating 235 people.
This makes them significantly larger than the Type 42 they replace. The ship has a displacement of
8500 tons (full load). The designed top speed of the vessel is over 30 knots, while the range
is more than 7,000 nautical miles. Then let's talk about armament.
The Type 45 destroyer is equipped with the sophisticated Sea Viper (PAAMS)
air-defense system utilizing the SAMPSON active electronically scanned array multi-function radar
and the S1850M long-range radar. The PAAMS system is able to track over 2,000 targets
and simultaneously control and coordinate multiple missiles in the air at once,
allowing a large number of tracks to be intercepted and destroyed at any given time.
This makes the PAAMS system particularly difficult to swamp during a saturation attack, even against
supersonic targets. The US Naval War College has suggested that the SAMPSON radar is capable of
tracking 1,000 objects the size of a cricket ball traveling at three times the speed of sound (Mach
3), emphasizing the system's capabilities against high-performance stealth targets.
A core component of the PAAMS air-defense system is the Aster missile, composing of
the Aster 15 and Aster 30. MBDA describes Aster as a "hit-to-kill" anti-missile missile capable
of intercepting all types of high-performance air threats at a maximum range of 120 km.
The Aster missile is autonomously guided and equipped with an active RF seeker enabling it
to cope with "saturated attacks" thanks to a "multiple engagement capability" and a "high
rate of fire". Presently the Daring-class destroyers are equipped with a 48-cell
A50 Sylver Vertical Launching System allowing for a mix of up-to 48 Aster 15 and Aster 30 missiles.
Another one is anti-ship missiles. The Destroyer is equipped with
2 × quad Harpoon launchers while the guns consist of:
1 × BAE 4.5-inch Mk 8 naval gun 2 × Oerlikon 30 mm guns
2 × Phalanx CIWS 2 × Miniguns
6 × General purpose machine guns The destroyer is strengthened by
Kevlar splinter protection, 70mm magazine and its flight deck is large enough to accommodate
aircraft up to the size of a Chinook helicopter. It has hangar space for either
one Merlin HM1 or two Lynx helicopters. The last point is about propulsion
Type 45 is fitted with an innovative integrated electric propulsion (IEP) system.
Integrated electric propulsion seeks to supply all propulsion and ship's electrical load via AC at a
high quality of voltage and frequency. This is achieved by computerized control, high-quality
transformation and electrical filtering. Two Rolls-Royce WR-21 gas turbine alternators
and two Wärtsilä 12V200 diesel generators provide electrical power at 4,160 volts to a high voltage
system. The high voltage supply is then used to provide power to two GE Power Conversion
advanced induction motors with outputs of 20 MW or (27,000 hp) each. Key to the efficient use of a
single prime mover is the choice of a gas turbine that provides efficiency over a large load range;
the WR-21 gas turbine incorporates compressor intercooling and exhaust heat recovery, making it
significantly more efficient than previous marine gas turbines, especially at low and medium load.
The combination of greater efficiency and high fuel capacity give an endurance
of 7,000 nautical miles at 18 knots. High power density and the hydrodynamic
efficiency of a longer hull form allow high speeds to be sustained.
It has been reported that Daring reached her design speed of 29 knots in 70 seconds
and achieved a speed of 31.5 knots in 120 seconds during sea-trials in August 2007.
So, we conclude that this destroyer is designed for multiple roles. On the one hand, it will
act as the backbone of the Royal Navy’s anti-air warfare force-protection capability through 2040.
In this capacity, its primary mission will be to help UK forces control airspace during
joint operations in littoral theatres. On the other hand, the Royal Navy also intends
to task the Type 45 with protecting maritime trade routes and shipping,
and to conduct open-ocean warfare. The Type 45 must be able to carry out these missions
in the presence of submarine and surface threats and be interoperable with NATO and Allied units.
Moreover, the MOD intends to deploy the Type 45 worldwide in support of broad British interests,
ranging from defense diplomacy to disaster relief to crisis intervention.
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