Britain To Order First Type 45 Destroyers (July 11)
Defence Secretary Geoffrey Hoon today announced the construction of the first three Type 45 Anti Air Warfare Destroyers for the Royal Navy, within a planned class of up to 12.
The MOD will negotiate a £1 billion order for the construction of the first three ships of the class with prime contractor BAE SYSTEMS later this year. The programme is expected to sustain up to 5,500 jobs in BAE SYSTEMS Marine and Vosper Thornycroft shipyards and in other defence industries in the UK.
Mr. Hoon said:
"The Type 45 will be the biggest and most powerful air defence destroyers ever ordered for the Royal Navy and their construction will be a tremendous opportunity for British industry. When these new ships enter service from 2007 they will represent a huge improvement in capability over the Type 42 destroyers they will succeed.
"The innovative ways that we are procuring these ships, using modular methods of construction and batch ordering from the start of the programme, demonstrate the changes we are making under the Smart Procurement Initiative. Innovations such as these are the key to delivering equipment to the Armed Forces faster, cheaper and better.
"I am also pleased to announce that the Type 45 will be known as the 'D' Class and the first two ships of the class are to bear the historic names HMS DARING and HMS DAUNTLESS."
An order for the construction of the second batch of ships is expected to be placed with the prime contractor around 2004.
The main armament of the Type 45 is the world leading collaborative UK/French/Italian Principal Anti Air Missile System (PAAMS), which is designed to defeat salvo attacks by new generations of anti-ship missiles.
Background Notes:
1. The first and third ships of the class will be assembled by BAE SYSTEMS Marine and the second ship will be assembled by Vosper Thornycroft. The First BAE SYSTEMS ship will carry the name DARING and the Vosper Thornycroft ship will carry the name DAUNTLESS. The name of the third ship will be announced in due course.
2. Contracts for the construction of the first three ships are expected to sustain about 1,500 jobs at BAE SYSTEMS Marine and about 1,500 at Vosper Thornycroft. A further 2,500 jobs are expected to be sustained elsewhere in the UK in defence industries.
3. BAE SYSTEMS was appointed prime contractor for the Type 45 project last year and is class design authority and is responsible for managing the programme and running competitive procurements for all ship equipment with the exception of PAAMS, which is being procured by MOD collaboratively with France and Italy.
4. The Type 45 is projected to have a deep load displacement of about 7,200 tonnes, making it the largest destroyer ever to enter service with the Royal Navy and the largest general- purpose surface warship (excluding aircraft carriers and ambitious ships) since the Tiger class cruisers of the 1941 programme.
5. The Smart Procurement Initiative is a MOD programme to overhaul the way the Department has traditionally bought military equipment and find new and innovative ways of doing business to deliver equipment to the Armed Forces faster, cheaper and better. The Defence Procurement Agency Type 45 Anti Air Warfare Destroyer project team, led by Brigadier Keith Prentice and the prime contractor Project Office, led by Brian Phillipson, have worked together in an integrated project team to deliver the project to extremely demanding cost, time and performance requirements.
6. The Type 45 is planned as a class of up to 12 ships with the first ship entering service in 2007 and the last in 2014. Total cost of the project including weapons systems is estimated to be £6 billion. The Type 45 will succeed the Royal Navy's existing force of 11 Type 42 destroyers, which entered service between the mid 1970s and the mid 1980s
7. The Type 45 equipped with PAAMS will provide area defence against aircraft and missiles including modern anti-ship missiles. In this role the Type 45 will support maritime assets across the range, from aircraft carriers to logistics vessels. In addition, the Type 45 will be a highly potent, multi-role, general purpose platform capable of operations across the spectrum of tasks from peace support to high intensity warfare. It will also operate either the anti submarine version of the Merlin helicopter, or Lynx.
