Dutch Navy to acquire “sailing toolbox” vessels with loitering munitions
An artist's impression of one of the new “toolbox” vessels. (Image: Dutch Ministry of Defence)
The toolbox vessels will add firepower and munitions to the Royal Netherlands Navy's existing frigate fleet.
The Royal Netherlands Navy has committed to buying two new support vessels from Dutch company Damen, with significant additional weaponry for the vessels factored into the deal.
Dutch state secretary for defence Gijs Tuinman announced the procurement to the Netherlands’ House of Representatives by letter in late September 2024 claiming the new vessels were required “to better protect the Netherlands and its allies in the event of a threat”.
The deal, which has a moveable price tag somewhere between €250 million (US$278 million) and €1 billion ($1.1 billion) includes the capacity for additional longer-range precision surface-to-air missiles than the Netherlands’ Air Defence and Command frigates currently carry. The state secretary said this potential upgrade would help defend against threats on land, as well as on the water or in the air.
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Tuinman also outlined the need for the Royal Netherlands Navy to increase its underwater drone stock to protect assets in the North Sea such as oil rigs and data cables.
The newly procured vessels, the state secretary explained, would carry the firepower and the loitering munitions to get these necessary protective jobs done “with a small crew”. In a post on X he described the new vessels as “sailing toolboxes” for the existing frigates in the Royal Netherlands Navy’s fleet.
While Damen has been chosen to build the ships, Israel Aerospace Industries will be the single source of supply for the weapons that will give the support vessels the “tools” to defend Dutch interests. It is understood to be supplying its Barak ER surface-to-air interceptor, as well as Harop long-range loitering munitions and additional electronic warfare equipment. That range of weaponry would allow the “toolboxes” to counter all the dangers enumerated by the state secretary for defence.
This single-supplier approach, according to the Dutch defence ministry, would make the integration of systems significantly more straightforward than it would be with multiple suppliers.
While no official figures were released by the Dutch Ministry of Defence, Shephard analysts estimated that the proposed design of the vessels meant Israel Aerospace Industries would supply more than 100 of its Harop drones in this procurement, likely delivering them between 2025 and 2027, and amounting for around $37.8 million of this procurement’s price tag.
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