BAE Systems, Europe’s largest defence company, will put to sea one of the world’s most sophisticated naval destroyers this week when its Daring begins trials.

The £600 million Daring is one of six Type 45 destroyers being built by BAE and VT Group for the Royal Navy. BAE will own the destroyers during more than a year of trials before they are handed to the Ministry of Defence from December next year.

The 8,000-tonne ship is designed to be part of an aircraft carrier group and is the most advanced air-defence system in the world. The ship has been built around a £300 million Sampson radar and PAAMS missile system, which is capable of hitting a cricket ball travelling at nearly 2,000kmph more than 50km away.

During recent radar trails in Portsmouth, the Sampson radar was able to track and plot a firing solution for every aircraft arriving or leaving from Heathrow, Charles de Gaulle, Schipol and Frankfurt airports.

Daring also has a 4.5in radar-guided gun that fires a shell that, Navy weapons experts say, “never misses”.

Junior ratings told The Times they were impressed by the size of their cabins, the iPod-recharging sockets and large messes that allow male and female sailors to mix. Junior ratings now share a six-man cabin, rather than 20 or 30-man dorms doubling as messes. Cabins are a third larger than the best that the Navy currently offers.

The extra space for cabins, galleys and mess rooms is a result of the ship’s increased automation, which will let Daring and sister ships operate with smaller crews. The Type 45s are substantially larger than the Type 42s that they are replacing but operate with a crew of 191 – 100 sailors smaller.

Commander David Shutts, overseeing Daring’s trials, said: “This ship is five levels of sophistication ahead of what we had before. Her weapon system is the most advanced in the world, but we also have a hospital on board, a Chinook-sized flight deck and room for 70 extra beds. We will get more capability with this ship than we have seen since World War II.”

The six destroyers being built by BAE and VT will be called HMS Daring, Dauntless, Defender, Dragon, Duncan and Diamond.

— The US Department of Justice is expected to make a formal demand that Britain hand over all evidence of secret payments BAE made to members of the Saudi royal family in return for securing arms deals. Ministers will today be challenged by the Liberal Democrats to say whether they plan to defy the demand.

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax