Asked by what date DragonFire will be fitted to Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers, ministers pointed back to a July answer which says the department is exploring how the weapon could be used across a range of operational environments, according to an answer given in Parliament.
Stuart Anderson, the Conservative member for South Shropshire, put the question to the Ministry of Defence, and Luke Pollard, Minister of State for Defence Readiness and Industry, said “I refer the hon. Member to the response to Question 17420.”
That earlier answer, given on 20 July to the same member, who had asked whether DragonFire would be fitted on Type 45 destroyers from and by 2027, said: “As announced in the Defence Investment Plan, the MOD will invest £490 million in Directed Energy Weapons, including DragonFire. With the transition to a Hybrid Navy and modernisation of our Armed Forces we are exploring how DragonFire could be utilised in a range of operational environments, taking lessons from the recent conflict in the Middle East.”
Ministers had put the 2027 date on the record repeatedly before that, starting in April last year, when Maria Eagle, then Minister of State for Defence, told James Cartlidge that “our DragonFire Laser Directed Energy Weapons (DEW) will be fitted to four Royal Navy ships starting from 2027” and that “Type 45 destroyers are being explored as the most suitable platform”, as this publication reported at the time.
By December, answering Cartlidge again, Pollard narrowed that to a single hull, saying the department “plans to install the first DragonFire system on a Royal Navy vessel in 2027”, with further installations to follow “in accordance with the Defence Investment Plan”. That answer was covered here in December.
In March this year, in answer to a question from Cartlidge about when the demonstration and evaluation phase would conclude, Pollard said the department was “on track to install this capability on a Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer in 2027”, describing a minimum deployable capability that would be improved afterwards through spiral development.
DragonFire is a laser directed energy weapon developed by MBDA, Leonardo and QinetiQ with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. It engaged aerial targets in a trial at the Hebrides range in January 2024, and was selected for acceleration into service after that demonstrator work.
The bell of disinterest keeps tolling.
The bells of procrastination and poverty are also ringing in harmony.
That will be “not for a very long time,” then?
At this rate it’ll not be “a Royal Navy destroyer” but “the Royal Navy destroyer”
Maybe it’s time for governments across Europe to place a wartime restriction on public announcements on defence developments and programmes? Such a move would irritate the hell out of we military enthusiasts and reduce the content of such sites as this, but maybe it would be wise considering Russia’s military expansion and open threats?
Mate that would be the best news for the current crop of clowns in charge, as they would do absolutely bare minimum and love the fact there would be no information that opposition MPs and the public could challenge them on. Bad idea, but let’s be honest the Russian and Chinese know exactly what we are doing in defence, little doubt about that. Cheers.
It’s not just the opposition that’s doing the loudest challenging it’s the Labour MP who chairs the Commons Select Committee for Defence. I’m not a fan of Labour but Tan Dhesi MP is like a Dog with a bone, he just will not back down. If you ever get the chance try and get a look at what happened when he had Starmer cornered in front of his committee earlier this.
For 30 minutes he ground Starmer down on the delays to delivering the DIP and eventually he admitted that the DIP was finished last year but had been stuck waiting for a final decision re funding for 6 months. So next question was “who’s desk is it stuck on” his reply was “mine”.
Agreed.
This is one of the reasons I think that prioritising the ‘drone fleet’ idea over the Type 83 was a mistake.
A larger ship can potentially carry a more powerful DEW
Drone Fleet LMFAO – all done on the cheap.
So it’s “Smoke and Mirrors” time at MOD but it’s still 2027 for the 1st Ship install but they are no longer saying it’s going to definitely be a T45 ! Well I suppose if we are being sensible about it and it’s only 1 to start off with then it’s best not to broadcast which ship it will be.
In reality there are only 3 options as you need a surplus of Electricity so it’s going to have to be either a T45, QE or curve ball HMS Glasgow (FOC T26) as all are in one form or another GT/DG powered Electric ships and you wouldn’t pick a T23 because we just don’t have any to spare and I’m pretty sure they are maxed out on their weight margin.
Biggest issue for the operational RN at the moment is availability of ships due to lack of numbers and the refit / upgrade / maintenance issues. So pulling another one in for additional work or extending an existing job is probably a risk too far.
Given the above I’d pick HMS Glasgow as she is still being fitted out and has to conduct up to 2 years of FOC trials anyway, so why not just put it on her to start off with. After all they are going to be the most numerous class of warships RN have and it’s a great opportunity for a possible export to Norway, Canada or Australia.
And although it seems a bit odd to trial a brand new weapon system on a brand new ship it’s exactly what HMS Daring did with PAAMS when she did her FOC Trials.
Any other ideas Folk ?
We’re on the brink of war they say, yet at the same time they continue to disarm our defences. People have been hung drawn and quartered for treason for doing far less damage.