Frag Out! Magazine
Issue link: https://fragout.uberflip.com/i/1220268
Before that happened, the Royal Navy and the MoD had had to go through numerous analytical studies and re- search that was to result in a concept of a new type of British escort vessels. Only after one gets acquainted with that effort, it is possible to make an attempt to as- sess this undertaking. The genesis of the new vessels is also related to the end of lifetimes coming soon, for the Type 23 frigates – the Royal Navy's workhorses. Hence the effort aimed at finding an optimal replacement of these vessels. Let us recall it – the Type 23 Duke-class frigates were entering service in the Royal Navy starting in 1990. The last one became a part of the British fleet in 2002. At the moment the Royal Navy operates 13 out of 16 frigates. Three re- maining have been sold to the Chilean Navy, as a result of budget cuts. The vessels operated by Royal Navy with the planned lifecycle of 18 years will stay in service for at least twice as much – for 32 to 35 years, depending on the vessel. These vessels have been going through modernization at least several times during the term of their service. Eight vessels serve in the ASW (Anti-Submarine Warfare) role. The main sensor used for that purpose is the Sonar 2087 – a towed array sonar designed and manufactured by Thales Underwater Systems at sites in the UK – it is a very sophisticated and expensive system that consists of both active variable depth sonar and passive sonar ar- ray, towed on a cable. Five Type 23 vessels do not feature the Sonar 2087 and thus their capability to detect mod- ern submarines is fairly limited. For that reason they are used mainly in the patrol and anti-surface warfare role. They are also employed for escort purposes in amphibi- ous groups. The replacement – the Type 31 Frigates, and their "big brothers", namely the Type 26, are rooted in the Future Surface Combatant program that began back in 1998. The goal of that project was to develop and introduce Type 22 and Type 23 frigate replacements. FSC was a program that has evolved, with its basic assumptions being frequently redefined. The initial plans dating back to 2005 assumed that two new vessel classes would be- come a part of the inventory of the Royal Navy. Lighter Medium Sized Vessel Derivative warships were to be in- troduced into service as of 2016. They would carry less advanced armament and equipment hence being cheap- er too. These would be complemented, as of 2003, with larger, more complex Versatile Surface Combatants. The latter warships were to be tasked with ASW operations. Another stage of evolution was the Sustained Surface Combatant Capability program focused on the option of fusing the tasking between the large surface combatants and support vessels, such as MCMVs or survey vessels. The research resulted in establishment of three ves- sel-class concepts. The largest class was to come in a form of large (displacement exceeding 6,000 tonnes) NAVY