Paris: The Netherlands plans to bolster its armed forces by reconstituting a tank battalion, buying more F-35 fighter jets and adding anti-submarine frigates as the NATO member seeks to field a more credible military force capable of deterring an attack.
The Dutch government will increase defence spending by €2.4 billion (US $2.65 billion) a year, including €1.5 billion additional spending on “combat power,” it said in a paper last week setting out policy for coming years. The country will lift its defence budget to around €24 billion a year, nearly double what the Netherlands spent on defence in 2022.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Dutch need to prepare for scenarios including Russia attacking a NATO member such as Lithuania or Poland, the defence paper said.
The Netherlands must be ready to fight a war of necessity rather than the “wars of choice” of recent decades, State Secretary of Defence Gijs Tuinman said in a presentation of the paper.
“The ruthless aggression shows that an attack on the NATO alliance is no longer unthinkable,” Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans said. “The Netherlands must step up to protect our security. We have to get to work to deter our enemies, guard NATO’s external borders and prevent further war in Europe. We have no time to lose in this.”
Brekelmans said the Netherlands may seem at peace, but in reality the country is in a “gray zone” of neither peace nor war, facing daily attacks on digital systems, companies, ports and power grids, and constant spying. He said the Dutch can no longer choose where in the world’s conflict areas they can contribute, but must be ready to defend the national territory.
“This is not just a small change,” Dutch Chief of Defence Gen Otto Eichelsheim said. “It is a turning point in the history of the Dutch armed forces, and it requires a fundamentally different way of thinking. Instead of meticulously preparing and planning every single mission, in the near future our military, our civilians must simply be ready every day, permanently ready for a large-scale conflict. Because deterrence only works if we are credible.”
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