Armament and Transatlantic Relationships: The Dutch Perspective

This comment describes the armament procurement policy of the Netherlands, in particular in the context of the Transatlantic relationship. With only one prime contractor (naval shipbuilding) left, the Netherlands is very much dependent on both acquisition of military equipment from abroad as well as on foreign markets for its national defence technological and industrial base. Formally, there is no preference for buying European or American equipment. In practice, the air force is traditionally oriented on US fighter aircraft, the navy sails ships built in the Netherlands while the army is driving vehicles produced in Europe. As the Transatlantic orientation of the country is gradually changing towards a more Europe-centered attitude, this is likely to have an impact on the future Dutch armament procurement policy…