Type 45 destroyer The Type 45 destroyer , also known as the D or " Daring " - class , is a class of guided missile destroyer s built for the United Kingdom ' s Royal Navy . The class is primarily designed for anti - aircraft and anti - missile warfare and is built around the PAAMS ( Sea Viper ) air - defence 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 Surface Ships . The first ship in the " Daring " class , HMS " Daring " , was launched on 1 February 2006 and commissioned on 23 July 2009 . The Type 45 destroyers were built to replace the Type 42 destroyer s that had served during the Falklands War , with the last Type 42 being decommissioned in 2013 . It is suggested that , during an " intensive attack " , a single Type 45 could simultaneously track , engage and destroy more targets than five Type 42 destroyers operating together . 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 - defence ship . The reduction in the number to be procured from twelve eventually down to six ( in 2008 ) was controversial . Development . The UK had sought to procure a new class air - defence destroyer s in collaboration with seven other NATO nations under the NFR - 90 project , the project later collapsed due to varying requirements of the different countries involved . The UK then joined France and Italy in the Horizon CNGF programme ; however , differing national requirements , workshare arguments and delays led to the UK withdrawing on 26 April 1999 and starting its own national project . On 23 November 1999 Marconi Electronic Systems or MES was confirmed as prime contractor for the Type 45 project . Seven days later MES and British Aerospace merged to form BAE Systems , making the latter the prime contractor . The Type 45 project has been criticised for rising costs and delays , with the 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 Defence Select Committee expressed its disappointment that the MoD and BAE had failed to control rising costs . Construction . The Type 45 destroyers take advantage of some Horizon development work and utilise the Sea Viper air - defence system and the SAMPSON radar . The ships are built by BAE Systems Surface Ships , originally created as BVT Surface Fleet by the merger of the surface shipbuilding arms of BAE Systems and VT Group . These two companies previously built the ships in collaboration . BAE ' s two Glasgow shipyards and single Portsmouth shipyard are responsible for different " blocks " . BAE ' s Govan yard is responsible for Block A ( stern to edge of helicopter hangar ) . The Scotstoun yard builds Blocks B / C ( a 2600 tonne section which contains the WR - 21 gas turbines , starts with the helicopter hangar to the bridge section ) and Block D ( bridge section ) . BAE ' s Portsmouth shipyard is responsible for Blocks E / F ( bridge to the bow ) and the funnels and masts . For ships 2 to 6 blocks A - D are assembled in the Ships Block and Outfit Hall of the Govan shipyard , and taken fully outfitted to the Scotstoun berth . The masts and funnels are also fitted before launch . For the first - of - class , Block A was assembled at Govan and moved to Scotstoun , where it was mated to Block B / C , which was already fitted with the WR - 21 turbines and machinery . Block D , also assembled at Scotstoun , was fitted to these three blocks . The bow sections ( E / F ) were mated at Portsmouth and taken by barge to Scotstoun . These were the final blocks to be attached . At this point the hull was launched into the Clyde and towed to the Scotstoun Dry Dock where the masts and funnels were fitted ( the masts are partially outfitted with equipment , for example the mast for the S1850M radar is sent from Portsmouth to Thales Nederland to be fitted with radar equipment ) . Once this is complete , the remaining equipment is fitted : radar arrays , bow - mounted sonar , propellers , missile equipment and 4 . 5 - inch gun . This modular construction arrangement was agreed in February 2002 . However , when the original contract for three ships was signed in July 2000 , BAE Systems Marine was to build the first and third ships , and Vosper Thornycroft ( now VT ) was to build the second . By the end of 2010 , all six Type 45 destroyers had been launched ; with the first two in commission and the remainder fitting out . In 2012 , with all destroyers structurally complete and production lines closed , " Duncan " the last of the type 45 destroyers commenced initial sea trials . She is expected to be commissioned some time during 2013 . The " Daring " class are the largest escorts ever built for the Royal Navy in terms of displacement . In 2009 , delivery of the ships ' Aster missiles was delayed due to a failure during testing . A subsequent investigation revealed a manufacturing fault with a single batch of missiles and delivery of the Aster 30 is back on schedule . Characteristics . The Type 45 destroyers are 152 . 4 m in length , with a beam of 21 . 2 m and a draught of 7 . 4 m . This makes them significantly larger than the Type 42 they replace , displacing approximately 8 , 500 tonnes compared to 5 , 200 tonnes of the Type 42 . The Type 45 destroyers are the first British warships built to meet the Lloyd ' s Register ' s Naval Ship Rules for hull structure requiring design approval by Lloyd ' s Register for the principal structural arrangments of the vessel . BAE Systems is the Design Authority for the Type 45 , a role traditionally held by the UK Ministry of Defence . The design of the Type 45 brings new levels of radar signature reduction to the Royal Navy . Deck equipment and life rafts are concealed behind the ship ' s superstructure panels , producing a very " clean " superstructure somewhat similar to the French " La Fayette " - class frigates . The mast is also sparingly equipped externally . Speculation by the press suggests that this design gives the ship the radar signature of a small fishing boat . The " Daring " class is notable for being the first Royal Navy vessels to include gender - neutral living spaces to accommodate male and female crew members ; communal shower and heads facilities have given way to individual cubicles , and six - person berth s for junior ratings are far more flexible in accommodating a mixture of male and female sailors . Men and women will continue to sleep in separate spaces , in common with most other navies . Propulsion . The Type 45 is fitted with an innovative integrated electric propulsion ( IEP ) system . Historically , electric - drive ships ( like USS " Langley " ) have supplied power to their electric motors using DC , and ship ' s electrical load , where necessary at all , was either separately supplied or was supplied as DC with a large range of acceptable voltage . 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 computerised 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 Converteam advanced induction motors with outputs of each . Ship ' s services , including hotel load and weapons system power supplies , are supplied via transformers from the high voltage supply at 440 V and 115 V . The benefits of integrated electric propulsion are cited as : 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 at . 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 in 70 seconds and achieved a speed of in 120 seconds during sea - trials in August 2007 . Advanced air - defence . The Type 45 destroyers are primarily designed for anti - aircraft and anti - missile warfare with the capability to defend against aircraft , drones as well as supersonic sea skimming anti - ship missile s . The Royal Navy describe the destroyers mission as " to shield the Fleet from air attack " . The Type 45 destroyer is equipped with the sophisticated PAAMS ( Sea Viper ) air - defence system utilizing the SAMPSON active electronically scanned array multi - function air tracking radar and the S1850M long - range air surveillance 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 . It has been suggested that the SAMPSON radar is capable of tracking an object the size of a cricket ball travelling at three times the speed of sound , emphasising the system ' s capabilities against high performance stealth targets . A core component of the Type 45 ' s Sea Viper air - defence system is the Aster missile , composing of the Aster 15 and Aster 30 . MBDA describe Aster as an anti - missile missile capable of intercepting all types of high performance air threats at a max range of 120 km ( Aster 30 ) . 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 30 missiles . However , the Type 45 destroyer was designed to accommodate a total of 64 - cells , while some reports suggest a total of 72 - cells . The Aster 30 offers additional anti - ballistic missile capabilities , which led the Royal Navy to announce its intention to build upon the Type 45 destroyers in the ballistic missile defence role . It was reported during March 2013 by the United States Naval Institute that the Royal Navy along with the United States Missile Defense Agency will explore the potential of the " Daring " class providing ballistic missile defence in Europe along with United States Navy Aegis equipped destroyer s . Because of the step - change in capabilities delivered by the Type 45 destroyers , their large unit price of over one billion pounds ( £ ) , and the large amount of public attention they have attracted , it is notable that numerous media organisations and defence analysts commonly refer to the " Daring " class as being the " most advanced " or " most powerful " air - defence destroyers in the world . Likewise , the ships builders BAE Systems claim ; " Able to detect and track hundreds of targets simultaneously , the Type 45 Destroyer is recognised as the most advanced anti - air warfare vessel in the world . " Nick Brown the editor - in - chief of Jane ’ s International Defence Review was quoted by " The Huffington Post " ( a US online news aggregator and blog ) saying , " It ’ s [ Type 45 destroyer ] certainly one of the most advanced air defence ships in the world . . . The US Aegis system is similar , but Sea Viper is more advanced . " The Sea Viper air - defence system : A 48 - cell A50 Sylver Vertical Launching System for a mix of up - to 48 : Weapons , countermeasures , capabilities and sensors . The Type 45 does not have a formal theatre ballistic missile defence ( TBMD ) capability but its potential for such a role is being assessed . Land - based Aster 30 Block 1 missiles have intercepted short - range ballistic missiles and trials of a land - based SAMPSON modified for BMD were planned for early 2012 . It is said that the first ship , HMS Daring , is engaged in ballistic defence trials with the US Missile Defence Agency ( MDA ) in as part of a major research and development programme . The flight deck of the Type 45 is large enough to accommodate aircraft up to the size of a Chinook helicopter . It has hangar space for either one AW101 Merlin or two Westland Lynx helicopters . Both types have a dipping sonar , sonobuoys and radar ; the Merlin carries four anti - submarine Sting Ray torpedo es whilst the smaller Lynx HMA8 carries either two Sting Ray or four Sea Skua anti - ship missile s . From 2015 the Lynx will be replaced in RN service by the AW159 Wildcat whose weapons will include the Lightweight Multirole Missile and FASGW ( H ) missile . Ships in the class . Six ships have been ordered , and transfer of custody of the first happened on 10 December 2008 . The MOD ' s initial planning assumption was to procure twelve ships ( essentially a like - for - like replacement of a similar number of Type 42s ) , with the size of the second batch to be determined between 2005 and 2010 . However this was reduced to eight ships in the 2003 defence white paper entitled " Delivering Security in a Changing World : Future Capabilities . " It was reported in December 2006 that the last two could be cut . In July 2007 , Ministry of Defence officials stated that they " still planned to build eight Type 45 destroyers " and that " the extra two ships were still included in planning assumptions " . This plan was officially abandoned on 19 June 2008 when the Minister for the Armed Forces , Bob Ainsworth , announced in Parliament that options for the seventh and eighth destroyers would not be taken up . The continual scaling back of the project , first from twelve to eight , and subsequently to six ships , has been criticised for leaving the Royal Navy with insufficient ships to meet its requirements . On 9 March 2007 , " The Independent " reported that Saudi Arabia was considering buying " two or three " Type 45s . On 7 September 2007 it was reported that Saudi Arabian officials had been invited to observe " Daring " s sea trials .