How Type 43 could have shaped Type 45

If Type 43 had been built, how would it have influenced Type 45?

It likely would not have been a formal test bed, but its huge missile battery and operating experience would have raised the capability baseline and perhaps the size of Type 45.

The answer doubts that Type 43s would have become formal Type 45 technology test beds, associating that approach with the later transfer of systems from Type 23 to Type 26. Their missile battery would nevertheless have established a different starting point for a successor. The proposed Type 43 carried two twin Sea Dart launchers and four sextuple Sea Wolf launchers. The latter provided 24 ready missiles and a full reload, while the discussion tentatively gives the planned Sea Dart magazine as about 72 missiles. Torpedoes and close-range guns added to the design's armament. A Type 45 expected to follow this capability could have been larger, and operating Type 43s would have supplied practical experience. The panel also considers how one might have strengthened British air defense during the Falklands War.