The legendary British pirate Sir Francis Drake argued that the best emblem for a warship is an enemy corpse nailed to the stem. The bow of the new British ship HMS Dragon is decorated with an equally symbolic sign - a red Welsh dragon. National coat of arms of Wales. The symbol of the inviolability and safety of the protected object. A vigilant guardian who guards the treasures entrusted to him day and night.
Medieval mysticism is surprisingly intertwined with modern technology. The "all-seeing magic crystal" has acquired the features of a three-coordinate radar with an active PAR, capable of seeing an albatross at a distance of 100 km. And the "arrows of Robin Hood", flying through seven centuries, turned into 48 anti-aircraft missiles of the Aster family, hitting 120 kilometers without missing.
HMS Dragon is the fourth ship in a series of six Royal Navy destroyers belonging to the Daring class (Daring, Dauntless, Diamond, Dragon, Defender, Duncan). Specialized air defense destroyers, "sharpened" to ensure the protection of ship formations from any means of air attack in the coastal zone, in open sea areas and in the vastness of the World Ocean.
Dragon breath
The roots of the Daring destroyers (also known as Type 45 or Type D) go back to the 1990s, when European countries decided to create their own next-generation warship, in no way inferior to the American Orly Burke-class URO destroyers. The result of the joint Anglo-French-Italian program CNGF (common new generation frigate) was the appearance of overgrown frigates of the "Horizon" type (adopted by the Italian and French navies), as well as their more advanced version - the British air defense destroyers of the "Daring" type.
The idea was definitely a success: thanks to their perfect design and ultra-modern "stuffing", "Daringi" and "Horizons" surpassed the American Aegis destroyers in a number of important characteristics. The Daring looks especially impressive: even the latest modifications of the American Berks politely step aside at the sight of a British paladin.
Outwardly, the Daring is a typical modern destroyer with a gross displacement of about 8,000 tons. Enchanting lines of superstructures and hulls. A minimum of external decorative elements only emphasize the become and the nobility of "Daring", whose appearance is entirely subordinated to the "stealth" technology. Below deck placement of weapons, vertical missile launchers, slender masts, a helicopter hangar and a landing pad aft …
In this illustration, the dimensions of the Daring are felt very well. The destroyer is very large.
But the main secrets of the ship are hidden inside - under the shine of the polished decks and radio-transparent caps of the antennas, there is SOMETHING that has challenged all existing technologies and canons of naval combat in the surface-to-air format.
British scientists, in collaboration with their Italian and French counterparts from MBDA and Thales Group, have played "all-in", having managed to create the world's first anti-aircraft missile with fully autonomous targeting, according to the "fire and forget" principle.
Of course, this does not exclude the possibility of external control of the missile: all missiles of the Aster 15/30 family are equipped with a reprogrammable autopilot: in the middle section of the trajectory, the missile can be contacted via the ship's radio-electronic means and its flight can be corrected - up to the complete cancellation of the mission.
But the real focus is on the final leg of the flight: the Aster 15/30 rocket has an active homing head (GOS).
Everything! No more restrictions and ordeals associated with the need for external target illumination - an active seeker independently emits radio waves and receives a reflected signal. The destroyer "Daring" can, like a machine gun, "hit" air targets, without thinking about the number of missiles in the air and the number of fire control radars on board - they simply do not need them.
An anti-aircraft missile with an active seeker is a real surprise for enemy aviation: in vain the pilot throws the plane down, trying to go to an extremely low altitude - where the radar illumination installed on board the ship will not reach it. The released Aster-30 missile will calmly follow the intruder in any direction - having seen its enemy just once, it will never lag behind its "victim".
The excellent flight characteristics of the Aster 30, excellent maneuverability and high flight speed, reaching 4.5 speeds of sound, allow intercepting any aerodynamic targets in the altitude range from 5 to 20,000 meters: aircraft, supersonic cruise missiles, and warheads of short-range ballistic missiles …
A rather big toy. Aster 30 is 5 meters long. Launch weight 450 kg
On April 4, 2012, another record was set - the French frigate Forbin * was able to hit the supersonic drone GQM-163A Coyote with an Aster 30 anti-aircraft missile, rushing over the crests of waves at a speed of Mach 2.5.
At that time, the GQM-163A Coyote imitated the promising Russian-Indian anti-ship missile "Brahmos". It is reported that the drone's flight height was only 15 feet (5 meters) - thus, the Aster 30 anti-aircraft missile, for the first time in the world, demonstrated the real possibility of intercepting supersonic targets traveling at extremely low altitude.
In addition to the "long-range" Aster 30, the destroyers' ammunition includes the "short" Aster-15, which is a complete analogue of the Aster 30, but without the starting accelerator (booster). Despite the worst flight characteristics (firing range of only 30 km, maximum flight speed of no more than 3.5 M), the "short" Aster 15 has one important advantage: less reaction time, and, consequently, greater capabilities for intercepting targets in the near zone ("Dead zone" is only 1 mile from the side of the ship) - a reliable means for self-defense of the ship from low-flying cruise missiles.
All this is the European naval anti-aircraft complex PAAMS (Principal Anti-Air Missle System), which, in addition to missiles of the Aster family, includes vertical launch units of the SYLVER type and a fire control system based on multifunctional EMPAR or SAMPSON radars.
Unlike the Italian and French frigates, which use the powerful but generally unremarkable three-dimensional EMPAR radar, the Daring is equipped with a much more bizarre device - SAMPSON active phased array radar (PAAMS S modification, also known as Sea Viper).
When designing their super-destroyer, British scientists considered the American scheme adopted on the Aegis cruisers and destroyers Burke suboptimal (four flat fixed antenna arrays of the AN / SPY-1 radar, placed in quadrants with an interval of 90 °). Such a scheme, with its apparent simplicity and effectiveness, has a number of disadvantages: for example, it is ineffective in repelling massive attacks from one direction - this overloads the grid, while it is not possible to use the other three. Another important drawback - the American solution does not allow installing four heavy HEADLIGHTS high above the water surface (really, is it possible to mount an additional mast under each of the four antennas?) - as a result, the antennas are simply attached to the outer walls of the superstructures, like paintings in the Tretyakov Gallery, which is somewhat limits the radio horizon and the detection range of low-flying targets.
Not so with British sailors.
At the top of the Daring's foremast, a radio-transparent cap shines in the sun glare, under which a platform with two active PARs rotates, with 2560 emitting elements in each.
The emitting elements are grouped into 640 transceiver modules, 4 elements in each, capable of implementing 64 different signal gradations in phase and amplitude. Communication with the central computer is carried out via a fiber-optic network with a data transfer rate of 12 Gbps. Antenna post weight 4, 6 tons, rotation frequency - 60 rpm. The range of radiated frequencies is 2-4 GHz (Short-band range at the junction of centimeter and decimeter waves). There is a cooling system for the antenna to reduce the thermal signature of the destroyer. In the future, it is possible to install a third antenna array facing the zenith.
As noted above, the fantastic device is able to see a bird from a distance of 100 km - at small distances SAMPSON's vigilance is amazing. In theory, the energy capabilities of SAMPSON make it possible to control the airspace at a distance of several hundred kilometers, however, this is no longer its task - see the next paragraph.
A second early warning radar (damn it, one is better than the other!) With an active phased array - BAE Systems S1850M, operating in the decimeter wavelength range, is mounted in the aft part of the Daring superstructure. The anthracite-black antenna S1850M weighing 6 tons makes 12 revolutions every minute around its axis and is capable of automatically tracking the position of up to 1000 air targets within a radius of 400 km from the ship's side.
New "Dreadnought"
The efforts of the engineers were crowned with success: on February 1, 2006, swaying majestically on the waves of the Clyde River, the destroyer Daring, the lead ship in a series of six destroyers, set foot on the water. Invincible Asterion, whose arrows striking without a miss will "land" anyone who dared to break through the air.
Today, HMS Daring is the world's most advanced anti-aircraft (anti-missile) defense ship, whose capabilities, when repelling air attacks, will "plug in the belt" any American "Burke" or Russian nuclear-powered cruiser "Peter the Great".
Exactly 100 years before Daring, on February 10, 1906, another British ship, HMS Drednought, made a similar revolution in shipbuilding - the legendary battleship, whose appearance instantly made all existing battleships and battleships obsolete.
But, despite the repetition of success and impressive air defense capabilities, it was not without an obligatory portion of the tar: one of the main drawbacks of the Daring is called its overly narrow specialization.
Anti-aircraft missiles are good, but where are the strike weapons? Where are the anti-submarine weapons? Where are the melee systems like the Russian "Daggers" or the American "Phalanxes"? And why is the anti-aircraft ammunition so small - only 48 Aster 15/30 missiles?
USS Barry (DDG-52) - USS Orly Burke-class Aegis destroyer
In an impartial comparison with the American classmate - the Aegis destroyer of the Orly Burke class, the British Daring looks like a real mediocrity. "American", with a similar displacement (9000 … 9700 tons versus 8000 "Daring") and equal cost carries 96 vertical launchers, each of which may contain an anti-aircraft missile of the "Standerd" family, SLCM "Tomahawk", anti-submarine missile torpedo or self-defense missiles ESSM (4 in one cell). Small-sized Mk.46 torpedoes, a larger caliber of universal artillery and the presence of self-defense systems on board (Phalanxes, SeaRAM) can even be disregarded - and without these "little things" it is quite clear that the Berk is a more efficient and balanced ship. and the relatively weak air defense capabilities are compensated by the huge number of destroyers built (62 Berks versus 6 Daring) - there are enough radars and missiles for everyone.
But…
Burke's obvious advantage over Daring is not at all obvious if you look at the situation from a slightly different angle.
Critical experts usually do not take into account that the Daring is structurally underutilized - like most ships in European countries, for economic reasons, a number of originally planned systems and equipment are missing. Currently, British sailors simply do not need a surface ship with sea-based cruise missiles, and the installation of an anti-ship missile system would be a waste in the absence of any possibility to use all these weapons.
If necessary, the apparent weakness of the "Daring" can be corrected in the shortest possible time: the destroyer provides the ability to install two 8-charge UVP modules - the French SYLVER A-70 or the American Mk.41 VLS in the "shock" version - to accommodate 16 cruise missiles "Tomahawk" or promising European SCALP Naval.
Modernization is facilitated by the modular design of the destroyer and the initial unification of the ship's systems with European and American weapons.
Also, there is a reserved space for the installation of PU Mk.141 for launching anti-ship missiles "Harpoon". In addition to the two already existing rapid-fire artillery mounts "Oerlikon" DS-30B with optoelectronic guidance systems, it is possible to install Phalanx CIWS automated anti-aircraft guns.
Like any modern ship, "Daring" is versatile enough and allows you to solve many urgent tasks that arise in front of the Navy in our days.
The Daring can hardly be called toothless in terms of anti-submarine warfare: as befits a modern destroyer, it is equipped with an MFS-7000 under-keel sonar, and the absence of PLUR and small-sized torpedoes is partially compensated by two Westland Lynx anti-submarine helicopters (or one heavy multipurpose AgustaWestland Merlin with a maximum takeoff weight 14.6 tons).
There is a versatile artillery - "Daring" is able to provide modest fire support with its 4.5-inch (114 mm) naval gun Mark 8 or to repel a possible terrorist attack (such as undermining the US Navy destroyer "Cole" in the port of Aden, 2000) using the two above-mentioned Oerlikon DS-30B installations.
Special features include a flagship command post, semi-rigid motor boats, and the ability to use mini-UAVs. The destroyer's comfortable interiors with air conditioning, LCD panels and Wi-Fi can be turned into a modern hospital or center for evacuation and assistance to victims of various emergencies in the blink of an eye.
It is noteworthy that a crew of only 190 people is enough to control a ship of considerable size (for comparison, the crew of the American destroyers "Burke" consists of almost 400 sailors).
The new British ship is truly admirable. The old anthem “Rule, Britain, by the seas!” Will sound again over the sea. However, this time it is worth admitting that despite all her British stiffness and lingering sounds of bagpipes, the fantastic destroyer Daring is a cooperation of the efforts of the best specialists from all over Europe …
