Equipment capability staff in the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) are reassessing force mix options for the Royal Navy's (RN's) future surface fleet after the demise of the Future Surface Combatant (FSC) programme. The move, which means that the entry to service of a new warship class meeting the requirements set out by the FSC project is unlikely to occur until after 2020, comes as the MoD attempts to balance future operational requirements with an overheated equipment budget and the limited capacity of the industrial base. The FSC programme had twice previously been knocked back from its Initial Gate milestone. However, the re-establishment of an Integrated Project Team (IPT) in the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) in September 2003 seemed to signal a renewed commitment to the programme.
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