Fleet Solid Support Ship Programme
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Royal Fleet Auxiliary| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders | Harland and Wolff, Navantia[1], Belfast, United Kingdom |
| Operators | Royal Fleet Auxiliary |
| Preceded by | Fort Rosalie class, Fort Victoria class |
| Built | 2025 to 2032 (projected) |
| In service | From 2031 (projected) |
| Planned | 3 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Replenishment oiler |
| Displacement | 39,000 long tons (39,626 t) full load[2] |
| Length | 216 m (708 ft 8 in) |
| Beam | 34.5 m (113 ft 2 in) |
| Propulsion | CODELOD (Combined Diesel Electric or Diesel) arrangement, 2 shafts |
| Speed | 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) |
| Boats & landing craft carried | Port side boat bay to allow embarkation of Special Forces RIBs[3] |
| Capacity | 9,000 square metres (97,000 sq ft) of cargo space; up to 25 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent) containers on upper deck; capacity for Role 2 maritime hospital[4] |
| Complement | 101 RFA, plus space for 57 to 78 additional RN or other personnel |
| Sensors & processing systems |
|
| Electronic warfare & decoys |
|
| Armament | |
| Aircraft carried | Capacity for 2 × Merlin helicopters (or equivalent) plus at least one UAV[5] |
| Aviation facilities | Twin hangar, Chinook-capable flight deck[6] |
The Fleet Solid Support Ship Programme (FSSP)[7] aims to deliver up to three fleet solid support ships to the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The ships will be used to provide underway replenishment of dry stores, such as ammunition, spare parts and supplies, to ships of the Royal Navy. They will regularly deploy with the UK Carrier Strike Group, providing crucial supplies to the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and their escorts. All three ships had been scheduled to enter service between 2028 and 2032.[8] However, subsequently the Ministry of Defence indicated that the first ship would in fact not be operational until 2031.[9]
The ships were first proposed by the British government in 2015 as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review. In the subsequent National Shipbuilding Strategy, the government outlined its intentions to tender the ships internationally to encourage competitiveness with British shipyards. This was criticised by some political parties and trade unions as being a potential loss of British shipbuilding jobs and skills. Following a competition, which began in 2018, Team Resolute was awarded a contract for the three vessels; BMT Group will provide the design, whilst Harland & Wolff and Navantia UK will construct them.
In December 2025, it was announced during the steel-cutting ceremony for the first of the three ships that the first ship would be named RFA Resurgent.[10]
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In November 2015, the British government published the Strategic Defence and Security Review which outlined a commitment to three new solid support ships by 2025.[11] The ships are replacements for the RFA's Fort Victoria-class and Fort Rosalie-class fleet solid support ships which had grown increasingly obsolete; one ship, RFA Fort Victoria, underwent modernisation in 2017, which made her the only fleet solid support ship compatible with the new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, whilst the remaining ships were withdrawn from service.[12] In the National Shipbuilding Strategy, published in 2017, the government stated that the contract for the ships would be subject to an international competition, pitting UK firms against those overseas in order to encourage competitiveness.[13] The government also described the ships as "non-warships", which allowed them to be tendered internationally under the European Union's Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).[14]
The government's strategy was criticised as a potential loss of British skills and jobs by opposition political parties and trade unions, such as GMB and the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions. They argued that the ships should be reclassified as warships and therefore made exempt from the treaty.[13][15][16] Sir John Parker, whose recommendations formed the basis for the National Shipbuilding Strategy, also criticised it as "not the right strategic approach" and recommended that "UK-only competition should be considered for future defence-funded vessels".[17]