UK to replace Type 45 destroyers with drone control hubs

The Royal Navy will procure at least six Common Combat Vessels to replace its current fleet of six Type 45 destroyers, shifting from a model built around a few large warships to one built around networked control hubs for uncrewed systems in the air, on the surface and under the sea. The new vessels are expected to enter service from the early 2030s, and the Ministry of Defence says they will deliver more resilient air defence without a proportional rise in crew or cost. Earlier plans for a Type 83 destroyer will not go ahead.

Ukraine is already deploying naval drones against Russia, and the UK government says the conflict has shown that drones now kill more people than traditional artillery in Ukraine. In the Red Sea, low-cost drones and missiles have altered the economics of war at sea and on land.

The Strategic Defence Review, published on 2 June 2025, says the world has changed and warns that the threat is now more serious and less predictable than at any time since the Cold War. It calls on UK Defence to move to warfighting readiness, adopt a NATO first policy and raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 and 3% in the next Parliament when fiscal and economic conditions allow. The review also ties the Navy’s future to a more integrated, more automated fleet.

On the same day, the government announced a £5 billion technology package that included more than £4 billion for autonomous systems and nearly £1 billion for directed energy weapons. DragonFire, the high-power laser, will be the first such capability to enter service from a European nation and is due to be fitted to the first Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer in 2027.

General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, the First Sea Lord, said the Navy must move rapidly to warfighting readiness, protect critical underwater infrastructure and be “uncrewed where possible, crewed where necessary.”