The review's claim that each Type 45 cost 1 billion pounds is challenged with a figure of about 633 million pounds for HMS Daring, including first-of-class development and tooling. Later ships became cheaper. The planned Type 45 force nevertheless fell from 12 to eight and then six ships. The cheaper-frigate proposal emphasized drug interdiction, piracy and counterterrorism without mentioning anti-submarine warfare in its task list. This emphasis anticipated the later division between Type 26 and Type 31 procurement. The objection is that reducing high-end forces on an assumption that peer conflict has receded leaves fewer ships available if that assumption fails.
Notable Point · 1:25:30-1:27:04
Type 45 costs and the cheaper-frigate tradeoff
The review's Type 45 cost figure is challenged alongside plans for cheaper frigates focused on policing tasks, with anti-submarine warfare absent from their stated roles.