Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 2 March 2015 to Question HL 5030, when he expects the upgrade work required on Type 45 destroyers to be completed; whether any such destroyers on which such work has not been completed have been deployed on any operation since the decision to proceed with the upgrade work was taken; and what assessment he has made of the effect of that work on the operational capability of the Royal Navy.

Mr Philip Dunne

All Royal Navy ships have a rolling programme of work which is being applied as operational commitments, planned maintenance and design solutions allow. With regard to the Type 45s, decisions on the optional Diesel Generator upgrade, announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 is in the planning phase and the costs and timescales of the three leading options will be confirmed in the Assessment Phase.

I am withholding information about the potential costs of the Diesel Generator upgrade as releasing such information at this stage would prejudice the commercial position of the MOD.

Since the previous answer was given, Type 45 Destroyers have routinely deployed to the Gulf, with HMS Duncan undertaking the first successful nine month deployment of a Type 45 to that region in 2015. She was relieved by HMS Defender in December 2015, also on a nine month deployment, which is currently utilising the recognised world leading Anti-Air Warfare capabilities of Type 45 in providing direct support and protection to the US carrier operations against Daesh.