On March 14, 2023, the Ministry of Defense of the Netherlands announced that it would transfer two Alkmaar-type minesweepers (Tripartite project) to Ukraine as military assistance, to be withdrawn from the Dutch fleet. Dutch Defense Minister Kaisa Ollongren announced new plans for military assistance to Ukraine during her visit to Odessa and Nikolaev.
Minesweeper-finder of mines M 861 Urk type Alkmaar (Tripartite project) of the Netherlands Navy, picture 12.04.2013. The ship was decommissioned in June 2022 (with) Mark Harkin Two Alkmaar-type minesweepers are to be transferred to the Ukrainian Navy "starting from 2025", after their withdrawal from the Dutch Navy during the planned replacement with promising large mine-fighting ships of the joint Belgian-Dutch Mine Counter Measures (rMCM) program currently under construction.
The training of Ukrainian crews for the minesweepers planned for transfer should be started from the second half of 2023, and will be conducted by the Netherlands together with Belgium, "and possibly with other allies." [...]
Recall that 600-ton minesweepers-mine seekers of the joint Franco-Belgian-Dutch Tripartite program were built in the 1980s - then 15 minesweepers were built for the Dutch Navy (Alkmaar type) and ten for the French and Belgian Navies. Now there are five minesweepers of this type left in the Dutch and Belgian Navies, and nine in the French Navy (including two acquired from the Belgian Navy).
Previously, five Alkmaar-type minesweepers from the Dutch fleet were sold to Latvia (in 2007), two to Pakistan (in 2011), and two to Bulgaria ( in 2020 ). In 2021, Greece signed a preliminary agreement of intent to acquire the six remaining minesweepers after their planned withdrawal from the Dutch fleet starting in 2025, but now the Dutch have decided to transfer two of these ships to Ukraine. The actual withdrawal of the last six remaining minesweepers of this type from the Dutch Navy began in June 2022, when the minesweeper M 861 Urk was decommissioned. Perhaps he is the first candidate for transfer to Ukraine.
It should be noted that in the 2000s, the remaining Dutch Alkmaar-type minesweepers (except for five sold to Latvia) were upgraded under the Belgian-Dutch BENECUP program, with the installation of a new mine warfare complex, including Atlas Elektronik INCMS mine action control system, Thales Type 2022 Mk III mine detection gas and underwater mine countermeasures Atlas Seafox MIDS and Saab Bofors Double Eagle Mk III Mod 1.
In addition to announcing plans to transfer two Alkmaar-type minesweepers to Ukraine, during her visit to Ukraine, Dutch Defense Minister Kaisa Ollongren also announced her intention to supply Ukraine with self-propelled ferry-bridge fleets M3 and unnamed radar for detecting UAVs, and both M3 and radar should be specially ordered by industry. M3 fleets are manufactured by the German division of General Dynamics European Land Systems-Germany GmbH (formerly EWK) of the European branch of General Dynamics Corporation - General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS). Kaisa Ollongren said that by now the total amount of military assistance already provided by the Netherlands to Ukraine is 1.2 billion euros.
In Nikolaev, on March 14, Kaisa Ollongren, together with the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Alexey Reznikov, visited the unfinished missile cruiser "Ukraine" (former "Admiral of the Fleet Lobov") of Project 1164, the same type as the flagship cruiser "Moscow" of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy, which was sunk 11 months ago.
Defense Ministers of the Netherlands Kaisa Ollongren and Ukraine Alexey Reznikov during a visit to the unfinished missile cruiser "Ukraine" (former "Admiral of the Fleet Lobov") project 1164, 03/14/2023 (c) Alexey Reznikov The Ministers of Defense of the Netherlands Kaisa Ollongren and Ukraine Alexey Reznikov with the model of the Alkmaar type minesweeper (Tripartite project), 03/14/2023 (c) Alexey Reznikov
