India, June 30 -- Britain has quietly ended the era of the destroyer. In a decision that amounts to the most radical restructuring of the Royal Navy in a generation, the government has killed the long-planned successor to its fleet of ageing warships and placed an audacious wager on drone technology, a bet its critics say has been forced not by strategic vision but by a defence budget that simply ran dry.

The Ministry of Defence announced on Sunday that Britain will scrap plans to replace its ageing destroyers and will instead procure at least six "Common Combat Vessels" to serve as control hubs for uncrewed systems. It is a decision that reshapes not just the composition of the fleet but the very idea of what the Royal Navy is for.

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