UK Royal Navy shifts focus from warships to system-led warfare
The new Type 26 City-class anti-submarine warfare frigates will operate with uncrewed and autonomous platforms, forming an integral part of the Hybrid Navy vision. (Photo: Crown Copyright/UK Ministry of Defence)
With a revised Defence Investment Plan on the way ahead of the upcoming NATO Summit on 7-8 July, the UK government has begun to reveal more details of how its future naval fleet could look.
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revealed plans to downsize its assault ship ambitions, stating that it will now procure “at least six” common combat vessels (CCVs) which will be the UK Royal Navy’s (RN) first “hybrid” warship.
In a move that had been foreshadowed by Shephard Defence Insight’s naval analyst Will Lupton upon the resignation of John Healey as defence secretary on 11 June, the UK’s planned Type 83 destroyers – intended as the successor to the Type 45 – appear to have been cancelled.
The number of new warships to be procured matches the number of Type 83s
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