Type 83 destroyer

The Royal Navy currently operates six Type 45 destroyers, also known as the Daring class, the first of which entered service in 2009 and are planned to leave service in the late 2030s.[4] They are used principally for anti-air warfare (AAW) and are equipped with the Sea Viper air defence system. Sea Viper comprises the SAMPSON multi-function AESA radar and a 48-cell Sylver Vertical Launching System (VLS) for the ships primary anti-air armament, the short range Aster 15 (To be replaced by Sea Ceptor with the addition of 24 additional vertical launch cells)[5] and long ranged Aster 30 missiles. Outside their primary AAW role, the Type 45s are also periodically deployed to carry out counter-piracy, counter-drug trafficking, maritime security and humanitarian assistance/disaster relief missions.[6]

In 2023 General Nick Carter, the former head of the UK's armed forces, described the Type 45 destroyers as the UK's only credible means of protection against large scale cruise missile attacks as well as ballistic missile and hypersonic missile threats, contextualised with the usage of Russian cruise missile strikes during the Russo-Ukrainian War following the 2022 Invasion.[7][8] This is because the Type 45s are the only asset in UK service to have both wide area air defence capability beyond 100km via the Aster 30 missile and ballistic missile defence capability with the forthcoming Aster 30 Block 1 variant (following completion of upgrades to the Type 45s).[9]

The first public mention of a new anti-air warfare fleet escort for the Royal Navy was in the British Ministry of Defence's command paper, Defence in a Competitive Age, which was published in March 2021. It was mentioned again the same year in the context of the government's National Shipbuilding Strategy and associated comments regarding planned investments in future naval platforms. According to The National Interest, if previous Royal Navy conventions are adhered to, the "8X" designation suggests the ship will be a large, multi-role fleet escort, akin to the sole Type 82 destroyer, HMS Bristol (in commission from 1973 to 1991). The latter was a large, multi-role destroyer with dimensions approaching those of a World War II light cruiser, designed and built to escort the Royal Navy's aborted CVA-01 class of fleet aircraft carrier.[10] She was equipped with flag facilities for this purpose as well as a comprehensive suite of state-of-the-art anti-air, anti-submarine and anti-surface weapons and sensors.

No design specifics have yet been confirmed publicly, but it is understood that a concept development process for the Type 83 requirement is underway.[11][12] In February 2022, the Ministry of Defence confirmed the future Type 83s would be equipped to address the burgeoning threat of hypersonic missiles.[13] It may also form part of a wider joint system known as the Future Air Dominance System [FADS][14] with various options that would fit within the broader FADS construct under early consideration.[15]

In June 2023, Navy Lookout reported that the concept phase of FADS will explore a number of ideas and concepts for the Type 83, including the radical approach of a small 'Arsenal Ship' style design.[15] The design would be around 4,000 tonnes and a crew of less than 50; it would not feature any anti-submarine capability or hangar facilities and only light gunnery armament for force protection.[15] The primary benefit of such an approach would be that the low crewing requirements and reduce sustainment costs could lead to three to four times the number of hulls that could be procured allowing for a greater distribution of ships around a carrier strike group or other such deployments such as mainland defence.[15]

Also in June, 3D renderings of a computer model purported to be an indicative 'place-saver' for the Type 83 project, were published by online defence news outlet 'DefenceConnect'.[16] The article's author claimed the image had been sourced from an internal BAE systems presentation titled, “Fire Safety and Damage Control in Warship Design - Now and into the future” and was preliminary. It does however show a large vessel, appearing to take strong design cues from both the previous Type 45 class and particularly the Type 26 class of vessels and follows a more standard warship design philosophy. It is displayed with a single 5-inch (127 mm) gun forward, large batteries of vertical launch cells sited forward and amidships, several CIWS and laser/EOS mounts, a sizeable helipad aft and an adjoining hangar able to host up to Merlin-sized aircraft. The model is displayed with two funnels/uptakes and is topped by a mainmast mounting multiple fixed AESA radar panels similar in appearance to CEA Technologies' CEAFAR system.[16] The presence of CEAFAR also corresponds with reports from 2018 that the UK had begun feasibility studies for the system to be applied to future British warships.[17]

• Aegis system equipped vessels (ASEV)
• KDDX-class destroyer
• Type 055 destroyer
• DDG(X)