Airfix 12203 Type 45 Destroyer

Daring or Type 45 is the name of a class of modern British gas turbine and diesel powered missile destroyers. The first unit of this type entered service with the Royal Navy in 2009. To date, six units of this type have been built - all of them are in active service. The Type 45 is 152.4 meters long, 21.2 meters wide, and has a displacement of 8,500 tons. The maximum speed probably exceeds 30 knots. The armament of units of this type consists of the Sea Viper missile system with 48 rocket launchers, capable of firing, among others: Aster 15, Aster 30 missiles or Harpoon missiles, a single Mk. 8 114 mm caliber, 2 Vulcan Phalanx sets, 2 Oerlikon 30 mm guns. The ship can also be operated by a Westland Merlin helicopter or two Westland Wildcat machines.

The Daring-class ships were developed and put into production to replace the Type 42 (Sheffield-class) ships in the Royal Navy. The new ships differ significantly from their predecessors. First of all, they are larger than them (especially than the Batch 1 type 42 version) and have much richer weapons - both artillery and rocket. Thanks to the far-reaching automation, it was also possible to reduce the crew from about 280-300 people to only 190 crew members. The Daring class also has much better electronic equipment - especially when it comes to radar systems. It also uses the achievements of stealth technology on a large scale, which made it much more difficult to detect. The capabilities of this class of ships were also increased - compared to the type 42 - in the field of anti-submarine warfare (ZOP).