Royal Navy sends warship to Middle East to protect tankers when Strait of Hormuz reopens

HMS Dragon, a Type-45 destroyer, is sailing from the eastern Mediterranean, where it was originally sent to safeguard British military bases from Iranian drone strikes.

The ship, which has been undergoing weapons testing off Crete, will join a future 'defensive and independent' mission jointly led by the UK and France – once the Iran war ends.

A defence source said: 'Dragon is a highly capable warship, so naturally she is likely to be part of our UK contribution to restoring confidence for global trade through the Strait.'

The destroyer, which has a 285-strong crew and is equipped with the Sea Viper guided missile air defence system, was deployed to Cyprus after RAF Akrotiri was hit by an Iranian-made drone on the second day of the war.

However, it took three weeks to arrive. And last month it had to return to port for maintenance amid reports its fresh water system had broken down.

WIKI

The Type 45 destroyer, also known as the D or Daring class, is a class of six guided-missile destroyers built for the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy in the early 21st century. The class is primarily designed for anti-aircraft and anti-missile warfare and is built around the PAAMS (Sea Viper) air-defence system using the SAMPSON Active electronically scanned array (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 Maritime – Naval 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 project has been criticised for rising costs and delays, with the six ships costing £6.46 billion.

[That’s about the cost of 24 new oil tankers per destroyer.]

The Type 45 destroyers are 152.4 m (500 ft 0 in) in length, with a beam of 21.2 m (69 ft 7 in), a draught of 7.4 m (24 ft 3 in) and a displacement of approximately 7,350 tonnes (7,230 long tons).

Deck equipment and life rafts are concealed behind the ship’s superstructure panels, producing a “clean” superstructure. The mast is also sparingly equipped externally. Speculation by the press suggests that this design gives the ship the radar cross-section 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 berths 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.

The Type 45 is fitted with an advanced and innovative integrated electric propulsion system. Integrated electric propulsion seeks to supply all propulsion and the ship’s electrical load using alternating current 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 turbines drive GE alternators, and along with two Wärtsilä 12V200 diesel generators, provide electrical power at 4,160 volts to a GE high voltage system. The high voltage supply is then used to power two GE Power Conversion advanced induction motors with outputs of 20 MW (27,000 hp) each.

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 gives an endurance of 7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h). 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 29 knots (54 km/h) in 70 seconds and achieved a speed of 31.5 knots (58 km/h) in 120 seconds during sea trials in August 2007.

The Type 45 destroyers are primarily designed for anti-air warfare, able to defend against targets such as fighter aircraft, drones, and highly manoeuverable sea-skimming anti-ship missiles travelling at supersonic speeds. The Royal Navy describes the destroyers’ mission as “to shield the Fleet from air attack”.

The Type 45 destroyer is equipped with the Sea Viper (PAAMS) air-defence system utilising the SAMPSON active electronically scanned array multi-function radar and the S1850M long-range radar. PAAMS can 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 it particularly difficult to swamp PAAMS during a saturation attack, even if the attacking elements are supersonic. The US Naval War College has suggested that the SAMPSON radar is capable of tracking 1,000 objects the size of a cricket ball travelling at three times the speed of sound (Mach 3), emphasising the system’s capabilities against high-performance stealth targets.

A core component of PAAMS is the Aster missile, comprising Aster 15 and Aster 30. MBDA describes Aster as a “hit-to-kill” anti-missile missile capable of intercepting all types of high-performance air threats at a maximum range of 120 km. 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”.

[It has a] 48-cell A50 Sylver Vertical Launching System for a mix of up to 48 shorter-ranged Aster 15 missiles (1.7–30 km (1.1–18.6 mi)) and Aster 30 Block 0 missiles covering 3–120 km (1.9–74.6 mi).

A block 2 version of the Aster 30 NT capable of intercepting 3,000 km (1,900 mi) range missiles is under development by France and Italy.

In addition to its anti-air warfare role, PAAMS offers additional anti-ballistic missile capabilities. In March 2013, the United States Naval Institute reported that the Royal Navy, along with the United States Missile Defense Agency, would explore the potential of the Daring class to provide ballistic missile defence in Europe along with United States Navy Aegis Combat System-equipped destroyers.

Land-based Aster 30 Block 1 missiles have intercepted short-range ballistic missiles.

The Sea Viper air-defence system consists of the SAMPSON active electronically scanned array multi-function air tracking radar, which is capable of tracking hundreds of targets (range 400 km, 250 mi).

S1850M 3D long-range air surveillance radar, capable of tracking up to 1,000 targets (range 400 km).

Guns
1 × BAE Systems 4.5-inch Mark 8 Mod 1 naval gun. As of November 2011, the Mk 8 Mod 1 is scheduled to remain in service until the 2030s, with a Mod 2 upgrade along the way to address obsolescence.
2 × 30 mm Small Calibre Guns on single DS-30B mounts.
2 × Phalanx 20 mm calibre close-in weapon systems (CIWS).
2 × 7.62 mm M134 Miniguns. (replaced by 0.5 inch (12.7 mm) Browning heavy machine guns as of 2023)
Up to 6 × 7.62 mm L7A2 General Purpose Machine Guns.

The Type 45 has a bow-mounted medium-frequency Ultra/EDO MFS-7000 sonar but has no shipboard anti-submarine weapons. The class relies on its helicopter(s) for ASW.

Countermeasures

The Seagnat decoy system allows for the seduction and distraction of radar-guided weapons through active and passive means. An infrared countermeasure device is planned for future retrofits.

Airborne Systems’s Naval Decoy IDS300 floating naval decoy system (corner reflectors).

Surface Ship Torpedo Defence System (SSTD) active torpedo decoy system.

In support of protecting merchant ships transiting the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, HMS Diamond shot down a suspected attack drone targeting commercial shipping with a single Sea Viper (Aster) missile on the night of 15 December 2023. According to Navy Lookout, the Sea Viper missile that was used costs around £1–2 million and the drone it shot down may have only cost 20,000 US dollars. In the same theatre of war, the United States Navy ship, USS Carney, has shot down 14 drones, most likely, using her main gun which is a much cheaper method. The Royal Navy is unable to use the main gun on their ships to do this, the 4.5-inch Mark 8, because software support for anti-aircraft use has been withdrawn (RN ships will not have anti-aircraft main gun capability until the Type 26 frigates, or Type 31 frigates, are in service). The in service Type 23 frigates have the Sea Ceptor missile system which can be used to shoot down drones and is cheaper than the Sea Viper (Aster) missile system. It will be several years until the Type 45 destroyers are fitted with the Sea Ceptor upgrade.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, former Rear Admiral Chris Parry claimed that the Type 45 destroyers are noisy ships that can be heard 100 nautical miles (190 km; 120 mi) away by submarines. Parry claimed that noise suppression in surface ships has been ignored since the end of the Cold War; the MoD responded to this claim by stating that as air defence ships, noise suppression was not a “premium requirement” for the Type 45 class.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_45_destroyer

[Iran’s military spending][quotes]

In the 2020 budget, the IRGC received $6.96 billion, while the larger conventional military—known as the Artesh—received $2.73 billion. The difference in funding reflects the IRGC’s importance as a political, military, ideological and economic actor. For decades, the Artesh has been at a distinct disadvantage on resources, choice of recruits and political influence. (The difference between the two militaries was on display in early June 2020, when the deputy commander of the Artesh publicly criticized the IRGC for showboating and promoting its own interests.)

Iran’s military strategy is framed around asymmetric warfare and emphasizes proxy conflicts, irregular naval tactics, a robust ballistic missile program, and cyber operations. The IRGC is the dominant player in all four of those arenas, while the Artesh is built like a traditional conventional military and operates outdated tanks, ships, and aircraft. This year’s budget showed that the funding gap between the IRGC and the Artesh gap is getting wider. In 2019-20 and 2018-19, the IRGC budget was two times larger than the Artesh, while in 2020, it was two-and-a-half times larger.

The defense establishment also includes the Law Enforcement Forces (LEF) and the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL). The LEF is the country’s national police force, while the MODAFL is responsible for overseeing the defense industry. The Armed Forces Social Security Organization is the pension fund for the military. The Basij, the voluntary paramilitary organization, is part of the IRGC.

Iranian military leaders are constrained by cost and driven by a desire to transfer technology to the domestic industry. Instead of buying large fleets of new tanks or fighter jets, Iran is more likely to purchase small numbers of advanced weapons systems and ensure the technology is transferred domestically.

https://web.archive.org/web/20200627154655/https://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2020/jun/17/iran%E2%80%99s-defense-spending

Iran could fund its military for a year on one month’s worth of domestic oil revenue.

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