A ship type from the Culture novels by Iain M. Banks. VFP stands for Very Fast Picket, which is the new designation of the dROU. In short, it's based on a warship design, but someone realised that a very fast ship can be used for lots of other uses than just running around shooting people. They still have the sorts of names typical to culture warships (for example the "Frank Exchange Of Views" from Excession). See Culture Ship Names.

Done with the help of the Culture FAQ at http://web.onetel.net.uk/~zakalwe/imb/culture.htm