The Netherlands has unveiled plans for two new support vessels of a novel design that stresses modularity, including containerized weapons and sensors for a variety of different missions, and a relatively tiny crew. Reflecting current operational realities, each of the new ships will pack additional air defense missiles to help existing Dutch frigates put up more effective and persistent firepower in the face of the kinds of massed missile and drone attacks that have proliferated in the Middle East.
In an announcement yesterday, the Dutch Ministry of Defense said that it would spend between €250 million and €1 billion ($279 million to $1.1 billion) on the two new support vessels.
A Dutch Ministry of Defense told Defense News that the new ships will be around 174 feet long, with a beam of 32 feet, and will displace around 600 tons. This makes them significantly smaller than the De Zeven Provinciën class frigates, four of which spearhead the Royal Netherlands Navy. Each of these frigates is roughly 473 feet long, with a beam of 61 feet, and displaces around 6,600 tons, fully loaded.
Perhaps most remarkably, the support vessels will each be operated by a crew of “at least eight sailors,” according to the Dutch Ministry of Defense. This compares with a complement of around 230 sailors on each of the De Zeven Provinciën class.
Despite their diminutive size and minimal crew, the support vessels will be notably well armed.
As an adjunct to the De Zeven Provinciën class, which is primarily an air defense frigate, the new vessels will be equipped with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Barak-ER medium- to long-range surface-to-air missiles. The latest iteration of the Barak series, the ER version can hit targets at ranges of up to 93 miles and at altitudes of close to 100,000 feet. The Barak-ER is designed to engage a wide range of aerial targets, including aircraft, sea-skimming and cruise missiles, drones, glide bombs, and — as seen in the video below — tactical ballistic missiles.
The Barak-ER is normally loaded in eight-round vertical launchers, and it was selected by the Netherlands in favor of the MBDA Aster, which cannot be fired from a container, and the Rafael Stunner, which reportedly failed to meet Dutch requirements. Meanwhile, production of the Standard Missile 2 (SM-2) Block IIIA that arms the De Zeven Provinciën class will soon come to an end, with the subsequent SM-2 Block IIICU not being compatible with the frigates’ fire-control systems.
While this raises questions about the future armament of the De Zeven Provinciën class, once stocks of SM-2 Block IIIA missiles are expired or expended, it led to the decision to fit Israeli-supplied air defense missiles on the support vessels. At the same time, the Barak-ER missiles on these ships will be fully compatible with the De Zeven Provinciën class, meaning that the frigates can be responsible for target detection and targeting, commanding missile launches from the smaller vessels, which will effectively serve as additional floating magazine capacity. Official concept artwork of the new vessel shows the aft deck loaded with four containers, apparently for missiles, with six launch tubes in each. There are also two stacked containers at the far end of the boat, perhaps containing support equipment or electronics.
In a letter to parliament yesterday, Dutch State Secretary for Defense Gijs Tuinman shed more light on the concept of operations, describing the support vessel or vessels sailing “at a short distance” from the air defense frigate, with missiles being “launched from the support vessel [but] controlled by the frigate.”
The need to boost Dutch naval air defense coverage was made clear by the campaign against Houthi missiles and drones targeting shipping in the Middle East in recent months, as well as Iran’s unprecedented, massed attack on Israel, using the same kinds of weapons. In particular, the limited stock of air defense missiles found on most warships has emerged as a concern and one that the support vessels will help address. Developments elsewhere in the world, including in China, suggest that swarming drones as well as ever more capable missiles will be a feature of naval warfare from now on.
As well as air defense, the support vessels will be able to deliver fire support during amphibious operations, for which they will be armed with ship-launched Harop long-range loitering munitions, also supplied by IAI.
With an endurance of up to nine hours, the Harop is designed to hunt high-value targets including unmanned surface vessels, command posts, supply depots, armored vehicles, and air defense systems. It patrols a designated area, seeking out targets with its electro-optical seeker, overseen by a ‘human-in-the-loop,’ before attacking. The addition of loitering munitions on warships of different kinds is something that has recently gained some traction and the many benefits have also been addressed in the past by the TWZ.
With the Netherlands Marine Corps as one of the four Dutch armed forces, the country has long stressed amphibious capabilities and the acquisition of Harop loitering munitions is indicative of the increasing challenges faced by such operations. In particular, coastlines are now better defended, with enemies possessing long-range weapons and advanced sensors that can threaten amphibious landing forces. This also means the Dutch Armed Forces need to be better able to launch amphibious assaults at different locations simultaneously.
The Harop is part of wider Dutch investments in long-range strike capabilities. As we have discussed in the recent past, the Dutch are planning to acquire conventionally armed Tomahawk cruise missiles for their next class of submarines, as well as the AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range, or JASSM-ER, for its F-35A stealth fighters, and the Israeli-made PULS (Precise and Universal Launch System) multiple rocket launcher for the Royal Dutch Army.
Another role that is being specified for the support vessels is as ‘motherships’ for uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs). Tuinman described using such drones to monitor and identify suspicious activity in the North Sea. Nefarious underwater activity by Russia, or other hostile actors is a growing worry for NATO.
Oil and gas drilling platforms and pipelines, wind turbines, and power and data cables are among the key assets that the new vessels and attendant UUVs should help protect. The type of underwater drones to be acquired has not yet been confirmed, but they will be existing, off-the-shelf designs with long-range sensors.
In 2021, undersea sensors off the coast of northern Norway that are used to collect data about passing submarines, among other things, were knocked out, and the following year an undersea fiberoptic cable located between mainland Norway and the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean was also put out of action. Earlier this year, a critical communications cable associated with Evenes Air Station, in northern Norway was severed, although it’s not clear if that was also underwater when cut.
Perhaps most prominently, in 2022, sabotage was put forward as the most likely reason for the mysterious gas leaks that struck two undersea pipelines in the Baltic Sea, after several explosions in the area. The leaks affected the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, used to carry gas from Russia to Europe and which were at the center of an ‘energy war’ between Moscow and the West since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
While the North Sea has apparently been spared incidents like these so far, it’s clear that the Netherlands is very aware of the potential for Russian-inspired aggression in these waters, including underwater activities. The defense ministry points to an episode this summer, when the Royal Netherlands Navy escorted a Russian research vessel in Dutch waters, with the intelligence services suspecting that the Russian ship was investigating opportunities for potential future sabotage.
Overall, the Netherlands is now more heavily investing in underwater warfare capabilities, after years of neglect. As you can read about here, the Netherlands will also buy four new conventionally powered submarines from France, to replace its Cold War-era Walrus class and to contribute to its new-look defense posture.
Returning to the new support ships, these will also be expected to “jam an opponent’s radar systems,” with IAI also delivering unspecified electronic warfare equipment for the new boats. In particular, the boats’ electronic warfare capabilities will be expected to disrupt operations by hostile missiles and drones, suggesting that some kind of non-kinetic anti-drone system might also be installed.
The small hull size means the ships won’t necessarily be truly multi-role but will instead have their weapons and perhaps also sensors packed in containers that can be easily swapped out. In this way, launch containers for Barak-ER missiles, for example, can be exchanged for those with Harop loitering munitions. Meanwhile, the fact that the primary ship has control of its weapons is a big advantage, reducing crew requirements and overall cost and complexity.
The two new support vessels will be built by the Dutch shipyard Damen, with plans calling for the first to begin service as soon as 2026, with both vessels to be fully operational in 2027.
Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the support vessels will be their use as a stepping-stone toward fully uncrewed operations by large-size surface vessels. With a crew of potentially a dozen sailors or less, these are already very nearly uncrewed surface vessels. Although the Dutch Ministry of Defense admits that the current technology doesn’t allow fully autonomous vessels, that is surely only a matter of time, and experience gained with these sparsely crewed ships should pave the way for that next frontier.
In many ways, the Dutch support vessels mirror interest in the United States and other countries in large uncrewed surface vessels with modular weapons payloads, allowing them to be adapted for a range of missions as required. At the same time, having a minimally crewed ‘loyal wingman’-type ship also makes a lot of sense, especially since the ship and crew can be reconfigured based on operational requirements.
Across the board, the Dutch Armed Forces are strengthening and modernizing as they adapt to the changing security environment in Europe and further afield. The two new support vessels represent a very interesting design, aiming to put a useful amount of defensive and offensive firepower and surveillance capabilities on a small and relatively inexpensive hull, with very little in the way of a crew to support these systems, but to have them work closely with more traditional warships. If successful, they may well pave the way for truly uncrewed surface combatants of similar size and capabilities.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com