Type 45 development costs had already been paid, so the proposed expansion concentrated on building more ships. Two or three additional hulls would have increased the fleet from six to eight or nine, while the original 12-ship plan offered still greater resilience. Fitting the destroyers with strategic-length Mk 41 cells was another proposed response to slow F-35 procurement. The illustrative load divided 24 cells between 16 Tomahawk cruise missiles and eight Standard Missile 3 interceptors or a similar system. This was a suggested route to land attack and theatre ballistic-missile defence, with less reliance on allies for the latter capability.
Notable Point · 2:15:10-2:16:20
More Type 45s and a proposed Mk 41 missile fit
Additional destroyers and strategic-length launch cells were proposed as ways to strengthen strike and missile defence while F-35 deliveries lagged.