The UK’s Fleet Solid Support (FSS) programme has reached a major milestone with the successful Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT) of two main propulsion engines and the first diesel generator for the lead ship.
The tests, carried out at MAN’s facility in Augsburg, Germany, mark tangible progress in the construction of the new support ships, which will sustain Royal Navy operations worldwide.
Overseen by Navantia’s team, the tests ensure the vessels will feature modern and reliable propulsion systems, a critical factor for their long-term operability.
This follows the completion of the Preliminary Design Review in October 2024, a key stage in confirming the ship’s specifications. The programme aims to replace ageing support vessels with a new class capable of delivering fuel, ammunition, and supplies to the Royal Navy’s Carrier Strike Group and other deployed units.
The involvement of Navantia, a Spanish state-owned shipbuilder, in delivering these ships has sparked debate due to the level of UK industry participation in the project. While the government has insisted that the programme will generate jobs in Britain, concerns remain about the extent of domestic shipbuilding involvement.
The first ship is currently expected to enter service in 2031, although recent developments—including the takeover of Harland & Wolff by Navantia UK—may impact the delivery timeline.
It looks like these MAN engines may be built in Germany, rather than by Navantia in Spain (under license). One positive (if it works out that way).
Seems odd to not use the same set up as the carriers thought that would be easier for maintenence and stocking spare parts.
IEP is expensive
Actually now that i think about it, it does make sence as BAE submitted there own bid which I’m guessing had the same engine set up as the carriers.
The QE Carriers aren’t propelled by DG’s and Azipod Thrusters ,so no the Engine set up would not have been the same.
These don’t have azipods
Err no they don’t – but the BAE FSS candidate NA referenced did.
These blasted ships haunt this site as the news vassalates between hope and despair.
They are in build which I would say is a lot better than ‘other news’!
At the end of the day a major shipbuilder, with experience, is contracted to deliver them to a time and budget and so it will happen.
Quite how much ‘building’ will be done in Belfast I am a little dubious about TBH.
I could well see a situation that if MoD are putting pressure on Nav then Nav move the outfitting to their own yards of maybe the first one – just to get it done? In the end it is all a trade off between creating industrial capability and actually getting a working ship into the fleet.
Please don’t start asking where the RFA crew will come from. Healy is probably praying that AI will solve that problem as it sure as anything isn’t going to be solved by the present pathetic pay offer.
I’m sure Optimus robots will do most of the crewing, after all what more reliable a supplier can there be than Elon. Of course they will likely sink the whole fleet before they get it perfected but hey that’s the price you pay apparently. 🚀
You say they are in build, but has any metal been cut yet, either in Belfast or in Spain? Saying that the engines have passed acceptance tests rather implies that the construction in Spain may have started, but I have seen no mention of it.
Construction started in Spain last year.
The fact there are engines to test indicates to me that MoD had ordered them some time ago before H&W fell apart.
Hi SB. Do you ever get the feeling that reality is often ahead of the public News cycle ? Everyone assumes that the news of H&W woes, Navantia Takeover and possible delays is it and no progress is ongoing, but reality is the Long Lead items must have been ordered, design finalised etc etc.
So things may not be as gloomy as most folks think !
If one benefit can come from the current hiatus and therefore the “unreliability” of the US and even any future change of US government, then surely it is to spend as much of the money for defence on UK IP and industry. This is especially needed for the Royal Navy, together with maximising shared systems across the fleet. Not sure how the Navantia/MAN colab helps with this in the long-term – though in the short-term I can see that it at least gets ships into the water. Any incoming Defence Industrial Strategy needs to look again at the future shipbuilding strategy in light of current events.
Was reading up on RFA Fort Victoria, didn’t realise it was bombed and nearly sunk by the IRA.
The Royal Navy has had a few close calls whilst in relatively safe waters over the years. The Fort Victoria bombing was probably the most serious out of all of them due to its success at actually avoiding detection & detonating charges despite there being no casualties, the Argentines launched Operation Algeciras in 1982 to target high value military shipping in Gibraltar to make the RN send ships back to protect home waters – frogmen with explosives spent weeks waiting for a high enough value ship to come into Gibraltar (because the task force had already sailed only MCM vessels were left) and when a frigate finally entered the harbour the car rental shop they were leasing from got suspicious due to their extremely long stay and reported them. The plot was foiled a matter of hours before what ultimately would have lead to the most serious loss of life in a single incident for Britain since WW2 could happen – thanks Spain for that one. The IRA also performed a smaller scale attack in 1965 on MTB Brave Borderer using a vintage BoyAT rifle to poke holes in her, no casualties or catastrophic damage but did lead to a change in RN operations around Ireland.
Close protection is vital for our navy, we take it fairly seriously now (compared to some allies) with the permanent Gibraltar Squadron and Faslane Patrol assignments but with small scale bomber drones made from off the shelf parts and low cost ultra long-range suicide USVs being deployed all over the world now it will be one of the areas that’ll require rampant modernisation or we may pay the price once again for neglecting it.
Thank you for sending me down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, first I’d ever heard of Op. Algeciras – fascinating stuff
Got to give Wikipedia its credit that it does allow the discovery of very niche events and information from following link after link. Then you realise you have 50 tabs open that have absolutely nothing to do with your original search.
Trouble is 50% of what is in Wiki, for niche subjects, is total fiction.
If you really know your specialist subject, Wiki is pretty bad and it doesn’t help that a lot of the reference links are dead – as the web has evolved.