Type 45 Destroyer HMS Defender has fended off 15 air raids and dealt with 11 swarm attacks as part of the BALTOPS22 exercise.

BALTOPS22 involves 47 ships, 75 aircraft and around 7,000 military personnel from 16 nations and tests the ability of NATO and its partner nations to safeguard the region and maintain freedom and security of sea lanes, you can read more about that impressive collection of ships and aircraft here.

HMS Defender is currently serving as the flagship of the US Sixth Fleet’s ‘Task Force 64’.

According to a Royal Navy news release, CTF 64 “deals in defending against attacks by missiles and fighter jets”. More specifically, CTF-64 is responsible for the planning and execution of maritime Integrated Air and Missile Defense in the Sixth Fleet Area of Operations, shown below.

“The Type 45 destroyer has powerful, cutting-edge sensors and Sea Viper missiles that counter threats and can knock moving targets out of the sky from up to 70 miles away, making her well-suited to duties at the spearhead of the specialist task group. “

CTF 64 commander, Commodore Jonathan Lipps of the US Navy, and his staff are on board Defender to command the group, which is made up of American, Swedish, Finnish and Lithuanian warships, as exercise Baltops 22 begins.

HMS Defender’s Commanding Officer, Commander George Storton, was quoted as saying:

“It is an honour to have an opportunity to work with allies and partners during Baltops. In the last 12 months HMS Defender has conducted global operations highlighting our readiness to work with international partners from the South China Sea to the Arctic. Baltops allows us to build on the firm foundation of strategic relationships and to further develop and demonstrate the ability for our ships and sailors to operate in a multi-threat environment while affirming our commitment to NATO and key alliances. Defender is a world leading air defence ship and will represent the Royal Navy with pride and dedication throughout the exercise highlighting the UK’s continued commitment to maritime alliances and operations.”

You can read more on the role Defender will be undertaking at the Royal Navy website here.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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76 COMMENTS

  2. Talking of defending against attack, video has emerged of the 1200 tonne Russian Rescue Tug Spasatel Vasily Bekh (SB-739) getting hit by 2 Anti-ship missiles as it was transporting stores (apprantly a TOR missile system) to Snake island which is what JamesD is hinting at:

    • Hit by TWO harpoon missiles. Footage on Ukraine Weapons tracker. Very big explosions for a ship of that size I’d say it went straight to the bottom. Can’t see how anyone could survive that.

      • What I find interesting here, is it was reported that the ship had a TOR system on board, I automatically presumed it was transporting it to the Island, and then I remember reading this article where the Russians have started strapping down TOR systems to the backs of their ships for extra protection, which has me asking was this the case here?

        • As I’ve commented before, many times, strapping land based AAW systems onto ships doesn’t work.

          But, hey great, if the Russians want to waste their time with fig leaf stuff: why not?

          That is apart from the fact that TOR appears to be overcome by mild EW……

          • Well they already tried stopping NLAWs and Javelin ATGMs by strapping trees to their tanks etc and that didn’t work as promised either. Desperate times, desperate measures.

        • Yes from the Ukrainian source I read they too were asking the same question. Either could be true I guess they daren’t risk navy ships and AA equipment on Snake Island has been targeted so they may well need new equipment while as they are reduced to using tugs to re supply as was reported last week they would ideally need some sort of protection. Either way the Russians are struggling to do either, I wonder how many more vessels they have to do this extremely risky re-supply job. Can’t see it remaining sustainable long term surely as vital as Snake island appears to be to them to close down Ukrainian ports and transport.

          • The only way to resupply Snale island without tisk would be fast speed boats delivering a few boxes of supplies each. Anything bigger can and will be targetted by Ukraines drone operators.

        • According too the Ukraine press the Vasily was carrying Weapons and supplies for those illegal occupiers on Snske Island when she was taken out by 2 land based Harpoons keep it up Ukraine strave them out After you’ve taken out Putins Bridge

          • Yes, let’s hope 🇺🇦 can also take out some of the 🇷🇺 cruise missile naval ships when in range.

          • 🙏 praying for that Quentin hope they have a patron Saint for Harpoons as they have for Javelins

          • Love the “patron saint for Harpoons ” bit. Ukraine 🇺🇦 needs some bigger victories. Love to see them be able to counter attack and reclaim Mariupol some day and pick off all the bloody Russian tanks, artillery pieces and troops one by one! They’ve got it coming to them. Push them back into the Crimea, blow the Kerch bridge up and then finish them off. Give the Russian forces some of their own bloody medicine. Put Putin and Lavrov in one of their own tanks and take it out! Then they can experience the same death of thousands of Ukrainian’s and thousands of their own soldiers.

            I know it’s easy to say all this from our couches, what’s going on must be truly awful. I admire all their guts, courage, endurance and sacrifice fighting these Russian bullies with all the weapons they’ve got. Strength to 🇺🇦 !
            And may the almighty put an extra 200km into their harpoons or, bring the Russian ships in close enough!

          • Cheers Quentin Quite agree with what you’ve posted , whilst we sit here after our Sinday Roast and flicking through “Youtube” and then moaning our thumb and finger really really hurts ,those Ukrainian patriots have been at it since 24 Feb. At least Boris has done something right for once by seeking to train Ukraine volunteers under British Army trainers, time is of the essence

          • That Sunday roast sounds good! Enjoy. It’s 11.30pm here in Sydney. I was just thinking that if things get a bit hotter I wonder if they’ll ever wire up all the T45s still for Harpoons or something fancier or at least FFBNW! We’d might need access to US (or Danish…lol) Harpoon stocks if our inventory is low. I’d like to see those additional CAMMs added on sharpish. Anyway end of the day here. Have a good Sunday and regards to ol’ Blighty! 🇬🇧 🇦🇺

    • Quite a specialist vessel by all accounts, can’t see the Russians exercising as much control over the black sea as they’d wish now. Just need to do something about the subs

      • Sneaking by sea in to the Russian port is a no go. It’s naturally defended and has the killer dolphins😂😂. Seriously is well protected. So that leaves shore launched torpedoes, or makeshift helicopter operations. Perhaps hydrophones could be put in the water, drop sonar boys from helicopters or drones if they were sure they knew roughly where a kilo was.
        It could be done but could also take a lot of effort and resources to get it done. Is it worth it?

        • The subs are the only thing now that can realistically enforce a blockade without fear so yeah I’d say it’s worth it if they could. How realistic any option would be I don’t know

        • Commando raid on the subs base attach limpet mines or just go in with a few ATGW and put some holes in the subs expensive pressure hulls.

    • Surely that’s the easiest way to render the Russian black sea fleet useless?…take out all the tugs !😂😂
      Sorry couldn’t resist. Its Friday and it’s hot.

      • Well that is the RN party line due to RoE vis target verification etc.

        I’m dubious as the newest version gets over all of that.

        Harpoon would be fine for sinking the whole Russian fleet. So retaining it might not be so idiotic?

      • Haha. Obsolete until it’s needed. Anything is better than nothing unless it’s stopping you from getting the better thing then the better thing is better than the worse thing and both are better than the nothing.

  3. Thread drift…

    Airborne being Airborne sees them banned from deployment… @airborne.

    Lads will be lads but PARA get caught.

    However! RMP said all above board.

    We love you really.

    • Got to laugh,
      Dogooders and the anti UK crowd to British soldiers:
      “Make love not war”
      3 Para:
      Ok,
      Dogooders and the anti UK crowd to British soldiers:
      How dare you!

      • The suggestion of heterosexuality in HM armed forces has triggered quite the response. “It is outrageous, what kind of messages does this send ? !!” 😂

      • PARA are PARA, however, they’ll never live down the shame that MP thought they were doing nothing wrong… standards in PARA have dropped Airborne!

  5. Type 45 are a nice class of ships. Can anyone give details of have the power improvement program is going?
    Has HMS defender had it yet? How far along are the other ships and is there a date set for try to complete each ship?

    • I believe that dauntless has completed PIP and Daring is getting hers right now. Planned completion is the middle of this decade. No progress on the other ships has been made, since they’re going in in turns. Defender has not yet had it.

    • Was an article here yesterday about the first coming back into service might help a bit if you look under the navy section.

  6. This might be a silly question, i’m a civvy, but would a Type 45 carry enough ammunition to fend off 15 air raids and 11 swarm attacks ?

    • Not to put too fine a point on it, but it rather depends on the numbers incoming. If more than 48 aircraft or missiles, then no. Just possibly if “the enemy” were to lose all aircraft in the first two attacks there might be a cessation for a while!
      Swarm attacks, probably yes, loads of 4.5” ammo, loads of 30mm, .50cal and gpmg..Phalanx….plus Wildcat machine gun and (hopefully) X no of Martlet missiles.
      Would of course have been acting along with other ships.
      AA

      • I WOULD like to know how she spent 80 hours hunting subs. Does this mean the bow sonar was in operation? Or just that the Wildcat had torpedoes slung, just in case someone else spotted one..
        AA

        • AA, anyone, any news of the Wildcats getting a dipping sonar in the near future or a uav mate onto the T45s?

        • Everyone will be up on Link. If the ASW coordinator who will be doing the hunting calls for a MATCH attack using a T45 to provide a Sting Ray using its helo as a pony it can do that.
          ASW isn’t just Sonar. You always have upper deck lookouts looking for periscope wakes as well. In places like the Baltic where it is shallow and environmental can be difficult the Mk one eyeball is also useful

        • I did wonder about that too.

          Did she cross deck a Merlin?

          Or is it a hint as to another quiet upgrade?

      • We can add the 24 CAMM for later on. If they go for 2 ExLS vls then we can have 48 CAMM plus the 48 Aster. Double what is now. Maybe that is bring over the top for some. But good to see the T45s come back into service.

    • In a true hot War scenario a Type 45 would rarely be sailing alone,depending on what Ships are with a 45 there would be layers of defence from picket’s to goalkeepers,there should be enough options to deal with these threats .

      • In a hot war you won’t always have companion ships so i still think each ship should have the ability to fight well on its own in its main role and also have good secondary abilities. And at £1BN+ they should be able to do more than just shoot stuff out of the sky!

          • Hi GB, this reply might duplicate as my phone send bounced back for some reason. This is a bit of a rant for me and it’s probably all been said and countered before. I wonder why the ExLS, Mk41 or a Mk41/ExLS combo is not being put into the T45s post PIP and not just these clunky six pack CAMM silos. Two ExLS alone would give you 48 CAMM, plus 48 Aster, that’s phenomenal air cover! And even upgrading the Wildcats with a dipping sonar or adding a UAV to the T45s would all be useful. And with PIP maybe now they can switch the bow sonars back on to the max! Lol. Regards from Aus. 🇬🇧 🇦🇺

          • I haven’t seen the designs for T45. However as it’s not having to fit a square peg in an existing round hole, the silo way not be the same as the T23 fit.
            On a T23 the SC canister is held in place by a foot plate inside the mag that is fixed to the deck. At the top on T23 the cannister is held in place by a round spool piece. This is because they used the existing round Seawolf missile penetrations through the deck instead of replacing the whole deck and everything that is affixed to it in the mag(lights, sprays, cables etc)
            For T45 this shouldn’t be an issue as its a completely new build and there are no existing round holes. We may find that the fit has straight forward square holes for square cannisters and the density of tubes is far bigger.

            No need for Exls or Mk41 which are primarily hot launch systems with all the associated sprays and hatch covers associated. SC is cold launch from its own launch tube. Its far easier to fit and far less services needy than say Mk41.

            If Mk41 was fitted it should have hot launch systems fitted such as the latest land attack/anti ship missiles.

            As the UAV kit becomes more prevelant I wouldn’t be surprised to see UAVs launch sonobuoys or act as a pony to carry Sting Ray. The upcoming deployment out this way for Lancaster (who will have a UAV from the start) will be interesting to see.

          • Thanks GB for your very informative reply. Always a good read. At least the T45s are getting better and better incrementally.

          • Hi Gunbuster. Jut stumbled across your post. What a great read, really informative. Thank you and please do keep ’em coming!

  7. I see Putin (& Xi implicitly) regard the future as neo colonialism with strong nations subjecting weaker ones. This should be a footnote in history after we’ve learned better rather than returning to old ways, but human nature doesn’t change. It could’ve come from the mouth of Hitler or Stalin.

    Xi is helping Putin weather the sanctions.

    How many nations will we permit them to eat up before we stand up to them rather than standing off, holding coats?

    Non stop cuts & weak conventional forces have done nothing to deter this.

    These exercises are welcome training. I think they’re scripted though so critical systems or defences don’t break down/fail & key ships put out of action or lost.

    • I think we ought to proactively pressure companies one way and another to invest in alternative low cost production for all our technology, indeed the US is in the early if a little half hearted process of so doing I think even if under the radar. Only way we going to have a chance of thwarting China and what is now its attack dog in Putin doing the heavy lifting.

      By the way the US is now investigating how it’s electronics, in particular chips are turning up in Russian missiles when they have been banned since at least 2014 from export there, yet production dates as recent as 2020 have been found while others have had their physical production info scrubbed out. No further or precise details revealed but will be interesting to see if they can determine the trail and more importantly be able to snuff it out.

      • I don’t see that happening.

        I’m too sure how many such companies we have that even do that stuff now.

        If you are talking chips in order to mitigate the dependence on Taiwan the US has is putting in $50 bn of Govt money for a start to unlock far larger sums of investment. EuCo is similar.

        We just don’t spend that amount of Government risk money on technology; we wait for entrepreneurs to create things then sell them off to the highest bidder when politicians get bored or need to find the £35 billion a year for tax breaks on house prices.

  8. Has were on the subject of RN guys could anyone tell if there are any plans in place of what to replace the old training ship HMS Bristol with ?

  10. Of course. Mig31 takes off. It’s spotted and direction of travel is given. It then has to pass through Baltic’s or round Scandinavia and down Norway. Being tracked all the way. Type 45 picks it up at hundreds of miles away. If it has already launched it missile that is also picked up at hundreds of miles away. Evasion starts, ecm, decoys, missiles etc etc.
    So the only way a mig31 could get close would be a surprise initial attack by somehow picking a location that they can’t be followed on allied radars to attack. If 1 mig 31 start coming near nato airspace they are getting escorted all the way.
    Interestinly someone once told me that every sub leaving the northern fleet is known about and the same for the bomber bases. This is shared between Norway U.K. and USA to name a few.

  12. Open question: do you reckon they could squeeze all the T45 Aster, CAMM, Samson radar etc onto T31 type hull? The Danish IH class even has the same/similar search radar and a good mix of missiles, guns, ciws, tws and helo. Just a thought if there was ever a need to produce a couple more cheaper AAW ships than a T26 based one. We keep saying six is not enough.

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