The Netherlands will combine two air defense system upgrade programs into one to create an layered air defense that will include the acquisition of upgraded NASAMS systems.

The Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands announced this on its official website.

“The unified system must ensure the protection of maneuver units, as well as vital infrastructure and territories. Both systems are interlinked in a way that they would work together seamlessly and without loss of quality. This will be implemented within a wireless and constantly synchronized control network,” Defense Secretary Christoph van der Maat shared.

The Netherlands made this decision considering the lessons of the war in Ukraine.

The Ministry of Defense conducted research and determined that only the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace (KDA) could meet these requirements with its NASAMS system, developed jointly with the American Raytheon.

The first medium-range air defense systems will be available to the Dutch ground forces in 2026.

The short-range systems will be available in 2028. They will be installed on the ACSV G5 tracked platform.

Currently, the Air Defense Ground Command is responsible for the deployment of air defense systems.

They include short-range Stinger and medium-range NASAMS systems, as well as long-range Patriot systems.

Militarnyi previously reported that on January 20, during a meeting with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the Ramstein base, Kaisa Ollongren, Minister of Defense of the Netherlands, agreed to supply Ukraine with the Patriot system components.

Already in April, Ukraine received the Patriot air defense system components from the Netherlands and ammunition for them.

The Netherlands was to hand over two Patriot air defense systems launchers and an unspecified number of anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine as part of the concluded agreements.