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Canada is planning to build 15 new River-class destroyers in the years ahead. Credit: BAE Systems

Unlike the UK and Australia, Canada’s development of the UK-origin Type 26 design will see it produce the new class of naval warships classified as destroyers, rather than their Commonwealth allies’ respective City- and Hunter-class frigates.

The River-class destroyers will have the same length and width of BAE Systems’ original Type 26 design. So, what makes Canada’s Type 26 iteration a destroyer, instead of a frigate?

To find out why, Global Defence Technology spoke with Canada’s Department of National Defence (DND).

The River-class destroyers will be able to meet “multiple threats on both the open ocean and in the highly complex coastal environment”, a DND spokesperson said. “Furthermore, the River Class Destroyer (RCD) meets the ‘destroyer category’ as defined in Nato publication STANAG 1166 MAROPS.”

STANAG 1166 is a Nato-level ship designator system, intended to categorise warships into types, depending on capabilities. The official Nato Ship Designator for the River-class will be DDGH – a destroyer (DD), guided (G) missile, helicopter (H) capable. 

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been directed to spend 10% of its equipment budget on “innovative technologies” moving forward, amid controversy as the UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered a Spring Statement to Parliament on 26 March.

It is unclear what the definition for innovative technologies allows for, although it is likely a call to promote the greater integration of small and medium enterprises in providing for military capability.

Speaking on 26 March, Reeves detailed that £2.2bn ($2.8bn) would be added to the MoD’s budget in the 2025/26 financial year, though with the target of 2.5% of GDP spent on defence by April 2027 unchanged and no commitment to raise further during this parliament, it appears to be more an exercise in front-loading funding.

Additionally, an apparently new £400m protected budget for defence innovation was also created, intended to bring emergent technologies into military servicer quickly by harnessing the speed of development in the UK’s small and medium enterprise sector. 

The UK government has revealed the DragonFire Laser Directed Energy Weapon (LDEW) will be fitted to the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers, beginning in 2027, in a landmark disclosure.

Detailed for the first time, it has been confirmed that the DragonFire LDEW will equip four of the six Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers currently in service.

Which four vessels is still unknown, nor whether DragonFire will be interchangeable through the class depending on availability, as with the old Harpoon anti-ship missiles, or if the LDEW system will be fixed in place.

“The Ministry of Defence has committed to accelerating DragonFire Laser Directed Energy Weapons into operational capability by equipping four [Royal] Navy destroyers with this world leading system, starting in 2027,” stated Maria Eagle, Minister for Defence Procurement, on 1 April.

The UK only operates a single type of destroyer, the Type 45. The selection of the Type 45 makes sense, with the air defence destroyers the largest surface combatant in service with the Royal Navy. 

The tri-national Global Combat Air Platform (GCAP) programme, intended to deliver a next-generation fighter to the air forces of the UK, Italy, and Japan, is looking at a production order of 350 units by 2035.

Formed through a merging of the UK-led Tempest and Japan’s F-X programmes, GCAP will produce a sixth-generation fighter with industries from the three partner nations collaborating on design and manufacture.

Leading their respective national contributions are BAE Systems (UK), Mitsubishi (Japan), and Leonardo (Italy). Across European partners the UK and Italy, the GCAP fighter will replace the fourth-generation Eurofighter multirole combat aircraft in military service.

In 2022 it was revealed that the UK had already begun work on a technology demonstrator aircraft under its national Future Combat Aircraft System programme, with a first flight test performance due by 2027.

Cited in Italian aerospace and defence prime Leonardo’s Industrial Plan, published on 11 March, it was revealed that there was the possibility in bringing new partners onboard to “accelerate development” of the GCAP programme. 

The US Air Force (USAF) confirmed that its future fighter jet, and centrepiece of the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) programme, “will fly during President [Donald] Trump’s administration.”

“At my direction, the United States Air Force is moving forward with the world’s first sixth-generation fighter jet,” said President Trump during a press briefing at the White House. “Nothing in the world comes even close to it, and it’ll be known as the F-47.”

F-47 is designed to integrate next-generation stealth, sensor fusion, and long-range strike capabilities to counter the most sophisticated adversaries in contested environments. Its adaptability and modular design ensure integration with emerging technologies.

Boeing followed with an update confirming it will deliver the aircraft, although no contract details have been made available. The prime has produced many combat aircraft including the P-51 Mustang, F-4 Phantom, F-15 Eagle, F/A-18 Hornet and EA-18G Growler to the United States.

However, Lockheed Martin has delivered the most recent advanced fighter aircraft to the USAF, from the fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II to the F-22 Raptor.