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Royal Navy's Super-destroyer to guard 2012 Games
The Sunday Times ^ | May 24, 2009 | David Leppard

Posted on 05/24/2009 9:10:22 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki

Super-destroyer to guard 2012 Games

The navy is set to deploy its most advanced weapons against any 9/11-style attack

David Leppard

THE Royal Navy is on standby to deploy the world’s most advanced destroyer to protect the 2012 Olympics from a 9/11-style attack.

Security chiefs are drawing up plans to moor one of the navy’s new Daring class of Type 45 destroyers in the Thames estuary. The ship, which boasts a sophisticated antiair missile system, would be ready to shoot down hijacked aircraft or small passenger jets flown towards London or the Olympic site by terrorists.

Three Type 45 destroyers – Dauntless, Daring and Diamond - have been built at an estimated cost of £1 billion each. They are being fitted out and should be ready for service by 2011.

Their main armament is the Principal AntiAir Missile System, regarded as the most sophisticated of its kind. According to the navy, it is designed “to defend against supersonic, stealthy, highly manoeuvrable missiles that could use sea-skimming or steep-diving flight profiles approaching in salvos, simultaneously from several directions”.

Its 45 super-agile Aster missiles are said by its supporters to be able to track and destroy a moving target the size of a cricket ball at 19 miles.

Lord Carlile, the government’s antiterrorism expert, welcomed the involvement of the Royal Navy. “[It] is very well equipped to deal with specific threats, such as that posed by terrorists using light aircraft,” he said. “Having a frigate in the Thames is an extremely good idea.”

However, Patrick Mercer, chairman of the Commons counterterrorism committee, said such defences should already be in place. “Given our vulnerability to this kind of attack, it is very worrying that we don’t have this kind of air defence capability at the moment,” he said.

T

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: olympics; royalnavy; type45; uk
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HMS Daring

1 posted on 05/24/2009 9:10:23 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
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To: sukhoi-30mki
Yeah right.

Let the terrorists hijack another airliner and aim it right for the frigate.

Like the Brits are going to shoot down an airliner over London and have all that collateral damage.

Cheers!

2 posted on 05/24/2009 9:14:53 AM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

3 posted on 05/24/2009 9:15:54 AM PDT by Joiseydude (Kate Smith - God Bless America http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCavKL2zdjM GREAT visual interpretatio)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Only one VLS, and one gun.

I’d like to know more, but there seems to be a lack of redundant critical systems.

Not too shabby though, and since Obamas going to cut our military back to the stone age, it’s a relief to know the Brits are still building warships.


4 posted on 05/24/2009 9:19:24 AM PDT by ChetNavVet (Build It, and they won't come!)
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To: sukhoi-30mki
"Criticism

"The Type 45 project has been criticised for rising costs and delays, with the ships costing £6.46 billion, compared with an original estimate of £5.47 billion. The first ship is scheduled to enter service in 2010,[24] 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.[25][26]

"Although the Type 45 represents a significant improvement to air defences, her anti-ship capability is limited to the single medium calibre gun and helicopter-borne Sea Skua missiles.[27]

"The continual scaling back of the project, first from 12 to 8 and subsequently from 8 to 6 units, has also been criticised for allegedly leaving the Royal Navy with insufficient ships to meet its requirements.[28]"

5 posted on 05/24/2009 9:22:04 AM PDT by pabianice
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To: sukhoi-30mki

What are they gonna do, park it on the motorway between London and Bradford ?


6 posted on 05/24/2009 9:36:49 AM PDT by PLMerite ("Unarmed, one can only flee from Evil. But Evil isn't overcome by fleeing from it." Jeff Cooper)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

WOW! Are those TEAK decks?


7 posted on 05/24/2009 9:37:26 AM PDT by WellyP
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Would be ready to shoot down hijacked, passenger-filled aircraft? That’d be a hard call, hayna?


8 posted on 05/24/2009 9:40:43 AM PDT by flowerplough (Bammy: I'll take "Mortgaging our Children's Future with More and More Debt" for $1.7 trillion, Alex)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

She looks to be a fine ship. Bless the crew who sail upon her.


9 posted on 05/24/2009 9:46:31 AM PDT by llevrok (A feral conservative in my own land.)
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To: Joiseydude

I can’t imagine what Raleigh, Drake and Nelson would say if they saw this ship.


10 posted on 05/24/2009 10:08:35 AM PDT by bobjam
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To: bobjam

At first sight, they’d probably react with horror.

But upon learning what the ship’s capabilities are, I bet they’d come around.


11 posted on 05/24/2009 10:14:07 AM PDT by El Sordo
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To: sukhoi-30mki

Kool ship. In the hands of the old Royal Navy, it would have been a menace. Today, it would stand watching by as Iranians in a motorboat capture their boarding party.


12 posted on 05/24/2009 10:56:26 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs earn the title of "man's best friend", Muslims hate dogs,,add that up.)
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To: bobjam

Not to mention, Objectively the Prinze Eugene and Bismark would still kick its ass. One teeny gun, and a helo that fires Sea Skua missiles. Those 50 pound warheads would barely have scorched the paint.


13 posted on 05/24/2009 11:01:26 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs earn the title of "man's best friend", Muslims hate dogs,,add that up.)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

And a Daring class 45 can’t outrun the Bismark either! creepy. And yes, i know its anti-air, not anti-ship. Im just having fun in fantasyland today, and giving a tilt of the hat to the old battlewagons that were more terrorizing than is often remembered.

And for extra fun, Bismark would have have been terrorized by the Iowa class BB. Bigger, Faster, with more and bigger guns.

Todays ships really are weak sisters. It makes sense since air power trumps surface warfare, but still, just for fun.


14 posted on 05/24/2009 11:08:34 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs earn the title of "man's best friend", Muslims hate dogs,,add that up.)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

This makes zero sense to me. Without knowing a lot about that ships sensors I would say that usually shipboard radars don’t work extremely well inshore with terrain masking and ground clutter.

I suppose it will work well enough tracking cooperative targets flying at a reasonable altitude. Would they actually fire at a Piper cub sized aircraft?

Ground based AAW systems or even Stinger teams on tall buildings in the vicinity seem like it would be a more reasonable alternative.

I think budget more than security is the goal here.


15 posted on 05/24/2009 11:16:59 AM PDT by Belasarius (Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. Job 5:2-7)
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To: WellyP

“WOW! Are those TEAK decks?”

I wouldn’t think so. I would imagine they are non-skid covered steel.


16 posted on 05/24/2009 11:18:28 AM PDT by Belasarius (Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. Job 5:2-7)
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To: sukhoi-30mki

How will they get it in the stadium?


17 posted on 05/24/2009 11:20:33 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: sukhoi-30mki

I don’t quite understand their design philosophy. There seem to be lots of right angles for a stealthy ship design.


18 posted on 05/24/2009 11:44:10 AM PDT by Paleo Conservative
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To: sukhoi-30mki

A 4.5 inch main gun, 2 30 mm, 48 anti-aircraft missiles. Looks like a single purpose air defense destroyer, rather than a multi-purpose.


19 posted on 05/24/2009 12:38:17 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: PAR35
It is single purpose ship. I believe that they could put two quad canisters of Harpoon missiles on the ships. The Sylver launchers could also fire Sea Scalp missiles. The problem is the 48 Cell limit. Our Arleigh Burkes have 96 mk41 VLS tubes. 2000 tonnes allows for a lot more capability. But the English with the Type 45 and the French and Italians with the Horizon class are trying to economize. The radars are supposed to be better than the AN/SPY-1 series, but the armament sucks. South Korea is going the other route on a similar sized ship. The King Sejong the Great class destroyer class uses the SPY-1D Radar, but will have 80 MK-41 cells for the Sm-2 and SM-3 missile and another 48 cell K-VLS for their Tomahawk copy, the Hyunmoo IIIC and anti-submarine missiles. The Spanish and Norwegians have their own Aegis equiped destroyers. The Spanish is a descent ship. The Norwegian Nansen is an odd duck in so far as it only has Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles. The Germans(Sachsen) and Dutch (The Seven Provinces worked together on their own compromise using their co-designed APAR phased array and the Dutch Smart-L the American SM-2, SM-3, and Evolved Sea Sparrow anti-aircraft/missile missiles and since they use the Mk 41 VLS, they can also fure Tomahawks. However, these frigates only have 48 MK 41 launch cells.
20 posted on 05/24/2009 5:03:07 PM PDT by rmlew ( The SAVE and GIVE acts are institutioning Corvee. Where's the outtrage!)
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