- Senior official confirms £490m for directed-energy weapons, including DragonFire, but gives no Type 45 timeline
- The Defence Investment Plan still states DragonFire will be delivered to Type 45s from 2027
- DragonFire began in 2017 and is planned for four Type 45 destroyers, although integration details remain unclear
The UK Government appears to have missed an opportunity to reiterate its commitment to install the DragonFire laser-directed energy weapon (LDEW) system onto the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers, having earlier said the planned 2027 timeline remained.
In a parliamentary written response on 20 July, UK Minister for Defence Readiness Luke Pollard said that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) would invest £490m ($659.1m) into directed energy weapons, including DragonFire.
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However, the written question posed to the MoD specifically queried the timeline for DragonFire installation on Type 45 destroyers, either from or by 2027.
“With the transition to a Hybrid Navy and modernisation of our Armed Forces we are exploring how DragonFire could be utilised in a range of operational environments, taking lessons from the recent conflict in the Middle East,” Pollard said, appearing to avoid a direct response.
Oddly, the 2027 timeline is specifically mentioned in the Defence Investment Plan (DIP), stating that the DragonFire LDEW would be delivered on Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers “from 2027”.
The current UK Government is gaining notoriety for its diligence in providing opaque responses to parliamentary questions, often citing national security concerns.
However, in this instance, given the direct timeline mention in the DIP, the reason for Pollard’s omission is unclear.
The 2027 timeline is also stated in a QinetiQ release published on 20 July outlining its Helena family of LDEW capabilities.
DragonFire: nearly a decade in the making
Begun in 2017 under the previous Conservative administration, DragonFire has shown a shift in defence development policy, having not only survived governments of different political persuasions but also provided a service entry roadmap for what was effectively a technology demonstrator.
It was planned that four Type 45 destroyers were to be fitted with DragonFire, although it was not specified whether this would be made possible via a modular payload or if the LDEW would be fixed in place.
During a rare 2024 visit to Porton Down, home to some of the UK’s most secretive weapons developments, Naval Technology was provided considerable insight into the kind of capabilities that DragonFire has and aspirations from industrial partners as to how far it could develop.
