The most advanced destroyer of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom at present is the Type 45 destroyer, also known as the "Daring" class. In the 1990s, the British Navy felt deeply that the then Type 42 destroyers were "past their prime". This type of destroyer was put into use in the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina, and one was sunk by an Exocet missile in the naval battle of the Falklands. Facing the increasingly serious air threats, the United Kingdom sought to develop a new generation of air defense destroyers. Is this true? Dear viewers! Welcome back to our channel again! I'm glad to discuss today's topic with you.

Initially, the UK planned to collaborate with seven other NATO countries to develop a new type of air defense missile destroyer under the "NATO Frigate Replacement for the 1990s" (NFR-90) program. Due to the difficulty in reaching a consensus among the various parties, they eventually went their separate ways and the project failed. The UK then joined the "Horizon" class frigate program, a collaboration between France and Italy. However, once again due to differences in requirements, disputes over work allocation, and delays, the UK withdrew from the program on April 26, 1999, and began to develop its own destroyer independently. With the technological foundation laid during the previous collaborations with other countries, the bidding process for the Type 45 destroyer progressed rapidly. On November 23, 1999, Marconi Electronic Systems (MES) was confirmed as the prime contractor for the project. Seven days later, MES merged with British Aerospace (BAE) to form BAE Systems. Thus, the latter became the main contractor for the Type 45. On February 1, 2006, the first Type 45 destroyer, HMS Daring, was launched and entered service on July 23, 2009. The last one, the sixth ship, entered service in September 2013. In the same year, the last Type 42 destroyer was retired. The Type 45 destroyer project has been criticized for cost escalations and delays. The six ships cost £6.46 billion, £1.5 billion (29%) more than the original budget.


The Type 45 destroyer is mainly used for air defense warfare and is capable of defending against targets such as fighter jets, unmanned aircraft, and supersonic high-maneuverable sea-skimming anti-ship missiles. Even so, it usually does not carry anti-ship missiles. The core of its air defense operation is the "Sea Viper" (also translated as "Sea Snake") air defense system, which is also known as the PAAMS air defense system, or the PAAMS(S) system. PAAMS is the abbreviation of "Principal Anti-Air Missile System", and it is a comprehensive air defense system jointly developed by France, Italy and the United Kingdom. Traditionally, the UK is accustomed to naming its shipborne air defense missiles after marine animals, so it named PAAMS as "Sea Viper". In addition, the multi-functional fire control radar used in the UK's PAAMS system is the Sampson (also translated as "Samson") radar, so the system is called the PAASM(S) system. The "S" in the parentheses represents the Sampson radar. While the PAAMS systems of Italy and France use the European Multi-Function Phased Array Radar (EMPAR)

свернуть