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RFA trio remain in extended readiness as reduced fleet continues to support RN deployments

2nd June 2020 - 17:00 GMT | by Richard Thomas in London

RSS

A trio of Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) support ships, Fort Rosalie, Fort Austin and Wave Ruler (the latter pictured above during more active times), could see their periods of extended readiness continue in order to reduce defence expenditure in 2020, as the UK looks to balance its books ahead of the 2021 Integrated Review.

It is standard practice for RN and RFA vessels to cycle through different readiness states depending on operational requirements, maintenance schedules and training programmes. However, during a 28 May Public Accounts Committee hearing it emerged that ‘support ships’ were being kept at a state of

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