Netherlands to Purchase 100 Ukraine-Tested Drone Detection Radars

The Dutch Ministry of Defense will purchase 100 radars designed to detect drones.

The announcement was published on the ministry’s official website.

According to the ministry, the first radar systems will be delivered today – Friday, November 28.

The radars ordered from Robin Radar are intended to provide early warning of approaching drones.

They can detect small unmanned aerial vehicles and distinguish them, for example, from birds and other moving objects. The agreement with the Dutch radar manufacturer was signed on November 27.

“The radars will give the armed forces more time to take action. Various units of the Ministry of Defense will receive them. They will also be distributed across air bases and other critical infrastructure sites,” the defense ministry said.

Due to the urgency of the order, both the Dutch Ministry of Defense and Robin Radar are working hard to ensure the fastest possible delivery.

All 100 ordered radars are expected to be delivered by 2026. Accompanying support vehicles are also scheduled to arrive at the beginning of next year.

Ukraine has received Robin Radar systems as part of military aid. In August 2024, the Dutch Ministry of Defense ordered 51 mobile drone-detection radars for Ukraine.

Robin Radar manufactures various radar systems for detecting small targets, including drones. Their main models – Max, IRIS, and ELVIRA – are presented on the company’s official website.

All of them provide 360° azimuth coverage and refresh data roughly every second, but only the Max and IRIS models operate in 3D mode. This means that, in addition to the object’s position on the plane, they also display its altitude.

The use of IRIS radars in Ukraine helped Robin Radar develop a software update that more than doubled the system’s detection range.