The latter two capabilities, the minister elaborated, would “raise an umbrella over our fleet,” contributing “to control of the air over a wider area and allow us to maintain freedom of maneuver through increased detection ranges.”
Future Air Dominance System
The UK government officially unveiled the Type 83 project in March 2021.
In February 2022, the UK Ministry of Defence revealed that the vessel would be engineered to counter the threat posed by hypersonic missiles.
It added that the platform will be a part of a broader defense framework called the Future Air Dominance System.
No concrete details of the vessel have been made public. However, a concept image shown at a naval conference revealed that the ship is about the size of the Chinese Type 055 destroyer (around 12,000 tons).
The Type 83 is expected to begin the conceptualization phase soon.
The UK Minister of State for Defence Procurement recently outlined the capabilities of the Royal Navy’s future destroyer, including directed energy weapons, the Defense Post reports.
