TSAMTO, June 24. The Dutch government has decided to equip the new Orca-class submarines with NSM (Naval Strike Missile) anti-ship missiles from the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defense and Aerospace.
Thus, the Netherlands finally abandoned the initial plan to integrate Tomahawk cruise missiles manufactured by the American Raytheon (now RTX Corporation) on submarines.
Recall that the abandonment of plans to equip both the existing Valrus NPS and the Tomahawk Orca-class NPS being built by the French Naval Group was due to the high cost of the project. The adoption of this decision last month became known from the document of the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands Defense Project Vision.
At the same time, it became known that the Dutch Ministry of Defense had begun evaluating various alternative options for acquiring a long-range missile system for the Orka submarines, which are expected to enter service in the mid-2030s.
According to Western publications, the closest possible alternative for Dutch submarines was the MdCN cruise missile variant of the European MBDA, which is being developed to equip the French Barracuda submarines. However, the Dutch Navy decided to purchase the NSM missiles from Norway's Kongsberg.
As is known, the Spanish Navy also considered the Tomahawk missile system for equipping F100 frigates and S80 submarines. However, in the end, the project also failed.
For reference
As already reported by CAMTO, the plans of the Dutch Navy to purchase the surface- and underwater-based Tomahawk missile defense system manufactured by the American RTX became known in 2023.
In April 2023, the Dutch Ministry of Defense sent a corresponding request for technical assistance to the United States. According to the Maritime Strike Acquisition program, at the first stage, it was planned to purchase the Tomahawk missile defense System to equip four LCF frigates and two of the four Valrus-class submarines.
The Secretary of State for Defense, Christoph van der Maat, outlined in detail the plan to create a naval strike capability in a letter dated April 3, 2023, sent to the Dutch House of Representatives. In the so-called letter "A" (a document outlining an analysis of the requirements), the Dutch Ministry of Defense determined that the most acceptable option for the purchase of this type of weapon is the Tomahawk missile defense agreement signed with the US government under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.
The strike capabilities of the Dutch Navy are currently limited by the range of Harpoon anti-ship missiles, which is about 75 nautical miles. The letter stated that due to the operational need for weapons with a range of at least 1,000 km, a project was initiated to purchase long-range missiles.
Confirmation of the chosen concept was planned to be received after combat launches from the De Zeven Provincien-class URO frigate (conducted on March 11, 2025). If the concept is confirmed, the Tomahawk spacecraft will be integrated into the De Zeven Provincien, Tromp, De Ruyter and Evertsen frigates during their maintenance scheduled for the period 2025-2029. As for the submarines, the first test launch depended on the date of missile integration (at that time, 2029 was assumed). Later, during the 2030s, the Tomahawk spacecraft was planned to equip four more frigates and four submarines.
The document by Christophe van der Maat also mentioned that the Dutch Ministry of Defense was exploring alternatives to the Tomahawk missile defense system, namely the French Missile de Croisiere Naval (MdCN) and the Anglo-French Future Cruise/Anti Ship Weapon (FC-ASW). According to the analysis, the Dutch Ministry of Defense concluded that the range of both weapons systems is insufficient. It is also unclear whether the MdCN can be adapted for the LCF frigate launcher, and the FC-ASW missile is still under development and there is little information about it. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Defense noted that it "will continue to monitor developments under the FC-ASW program."
Regarding the equipment of the Tomahawk missile defense frigates, at the moment it is obvious that after the successful tests conducted in March, the project is being implemented according to the planned plan. In April, the U.S. State Department approved the potential supply of up to 163 Block Tomahawk missiles to the Netherlands.5 AUR and up to 12 Tomahawk Units.4 AUR worth about $2.19 billion.
