The Royal Navy’s primary aviation training ship RFA Argus was recently validated for multi-spot and multi-aircraft aviation operations as she returned to operational status following several months of refit.
Over the last four months Argus’ ships company comprising of both Royal Fleet Auxiliary and Royal Naval personnel from the Maritime Aviation Support Force, (MASF) worked on repairing and upgrading the ship.
The past six weeks of intensive training program culminated in RFA Argus passing Operational Sea Training (OST).
“Operational sea training is designed to test all aspects of the ships capability including Warfare, Aviation, Navigation and our ability to deal with fire and flood emergencies but also to build a cohesive fighting unit,” said Captain Karl Woodfield , Commanding Officer of RFA Argus.
In total 50 personnel from Royal Naval Air Station’s MASF are deployed onboard RFA Argus. Between them they cover a complete spectrum of trades and branches from across the naval service, as well as the FAA. They range from such diverse areas as aircraft handlers to logistic support and chefs to medical support.
Capt Woodfield continued, “RFA Argus is now fully operational and we have resumed one of our primary roles as an aviation training ship.
“Over the next few months we will be operating off the South Coast providing aviation training for the Fleet Air Arm squadrons but we remain at five days high readiness notice to deploy anywhere in the word.”