The procurement criticism centres on Type 45 lacking a general-purpose Mk 41 vertical launch installation, particularly the strike-length form. The weapon examples cover anti-submarine attack with ASROC, land attack with Tomahawk and ballistic-missile defence with SM-3. These illustrate the launcher family's breadth rather than establishing that additional cells alone would integrate every weapon. The design lineage is traced through NFR-90 and Horizon to a period when NATO possessed many more ships and could accommodate greater specialisation. A smaller force needs individual escorts to carry a wider range of weapons and enough missiles to sustain their use. Greater flexibility would also strengthen the case for building more ships and investing in their support infrastructure.
Notable Point · 31:24-33:23
Type 45 and the argument for a general-purpose missile battery
The criticism of Type 45 links its missile capacity and lack of Mk 41 launchers to assumptions inherited from a much larger NATO fleet.