Global presence makes Arleigh Burke the destroyer benchmark

Should the Type 45 rather than the Arleigh Burke be the benchmark missile destroyer?

No; the latest Burke flight remains the benchmark because of US fleet scale and global presence, despite the Type 45's strengths.

A larger Type 45 option could have carried another forty-eight air-defense cells plus space for thirty-two Mark 41 cells. That 128-cell configuration might have been benchmark-worthy on raw capability. A benchmark also reflects the navy most fleets encounter and compare themselves against, however, and Britain built too few Type 45s for that role. The latest Arleigh Burke flight therefore remains the practical standard, even though the long-lived American hull now has limited room for further growth.