UK unveils plans to replace destroyers with ‘hybrid’ vessels

LONDON: Britain will replace its ageing destroyer warships with at least six “hybrid” vessels, the government has announced, as it prepares to unveil its much-delayed plans for defence investment spending over the next decade.

The new vessels, which will replace the Royal Navy’s six current Type 45 destroyers from the early 2030s, will “mix crewed and uncrewed capabilities and be more suited to the pace and nature of modern warfare,” the ministry of defence (MoD) said.

They are equipped to deploy drones and to work alongside various other ships and uncrewed platforms and underwater assets, “representing a once-in-a-generation investment in new maritime capability,” it added.

The announcement late Sunday follows a turbulent period for the ministry and sector, after both the defence and armed forces ministers quit earlier this month in a row over funding for the long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (DIP).

Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his own resignation 11 days later as support for the beleaguered leader within his ruling centre-left Labour party ebbed away, following a string of missteps, policy U-turns and government scandals.

Originally planned to be released last year, the DIP has been repeatedly delayed as the government struggles to find the money to raise military spending and prioritise Nato as the threat from Russia grows.

Now-ex defence secretary John Healey and his junior minister Al Carns resigned, warning that the proposed DIP Starmer had presented them with was insufficiently funded and risked making Britain “less safe”.

UK media has reported it was as much as £28 billion (US$37 billion) short on what the MoD had requested.

Healey’s replacement, Dan Jarvis, has spent his first two weeks in the role “refocusing” the plan “towards more immediate priorities”, the MoD said Sunday.

It is expected to be published ahead of an upcoming two-day Nato summit hosted by Turkey in Ankara starting July 7, it added.

The six new “Common Combat Vessels” – part of the DIP – mean plans announced in March 2021 for a Type 83 destroyer to replace the outgoing Type 45s will now be shelved.

The new warship can “act as a control hub for uncrewed systems – extending the Navy’s reach, resilience and firepower without a proportional increase in crew or cost,” the MoD said.

It added the decision was part of plans to “shift to a hybrid navy” rather than “concentrating capability in a small number of large, expensive ships”.

Jarvis said the new ships “are designed and built for the increasing threats we face”.