The Royal Navy is poised to procure at least six new ‘common combat vessels’ (CCVs) as the government seeks to modernise its military and prioritise drones.
These new vessels will function as crucial hubs for uncrewed systems, designed to expand the Navy’s reach and firepower without a “proportional increase” in crew or cost, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed.
Consequently, earlier plans to replace the fleet of six Type 45 destroyers with a new class of guided-missile warship, the Type 83 destroyer, have been abandoned.
Type 45
The Type 45 destroyer is the vessel that the Government is seeking to replace.
The Royal Navy has six Type 45s which it describes as “the pride of the naval fleet”.
Nicknamed the Daring Class, it is 152 metres in length, can travel at 30 knots with a range of 7,000 nautical miles and specialises in anti-aircraft and anti-missile warfare.
The vessels have a flight deck and an advanced radar system which can track objects in the air and on the surface at a range of up to 250 miles.
The vessels have a Sea Viper air-defence missile system which can launch eight missiles in under 10 seconds, as well as a wealth of other weaponry including two 7.62mm miniguns and six general purpose machine guns.
The fleet was built between 2003 and 2012, entered service in 2009, and has recently been used to combat drone warfare.
In December 2023, the HMS Diamond intercepted a drone reportedly headed for commercial shipping using a Sea Viper missile.
Sea Viper missiles reportedly cost £1-2 million while drones are significantly cheaper.
The Royal Navy website says it has also shot down drones in the Red Sea and intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Houthi-controlled Yemen in April 2024.
Type 83
The Type 83 destroyer was originally planned to replace the Type 45 and come into service in the mid-to-late 2030s.
The guided-missile warship, which was first mentioned by the previous government in 2021, was still in the concept phase of development and no specifics of the design had been confirmed publicly.
In April defence minister Luke Pollard said that when the Labour Government inherited the concept for the Type 83 fleet it was “underdeveloped”.
He also revealed that around £1 million had been spent on platform-specific design over the past three financial years for the now abandoned Type 83 fleet.
It was proposed that the Type 83 would work with other weapons systems to protect the fleet from air attack as part of the Future Air Dominance System (FADS) – which former defence minister James Cartlidge dubbed a “system of systems”.
In line with this the Type 83 would have been able to deal with the threat of hypersonic missiles.
Common combat vessels
The new defence investment plan (Dip) means the Navy will commission drawings and designs for new, uncrewed, drone-compatible vessels which are expected to be delivered in the early 2030s.
As such, details on their size, shape, capability and cost is currently unknown.
The MoD said the new vessels will “act as a control hub for uncrewed systems – extending the Navy’s reach, resilience and firepower without a proportional increase in crew or cost”.
A report by specialist publication Navy Lookout said that in one concept of how the CCVs would operate, each crewed CCV was “flanked by at least two large uncrewed surface vessels, fulfilling diverse roles such as air defence or anti-submarine warfare as missions demanded”.
Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis said: “These CCVs will provide our dedicated sailors with hybrid ships that are designed and built for the increasing threats we face.
“Developed with exceptional British innovators, the new ships will be British-built, supporting jobs across the nation and giving the Royal Navy a capability built for modern warfare.”
The MoD added that their “adaptable design” will mean the CCVs can be exported globally.
