Conference Theme

The Netherlands and Belgium began their formal cooperation in mine warfare operations in 1948. By 1964 they had formally agreed to combine their mine warfare training activities, and a decade later the Belgium/Netherlands cooperation broadened to include other NATO nations.

In the following decades anti-submarine warfare became a part of both of these partnerships. The Netherlands remains a leading ASW and Submarine warfare nation and UDT will reflect the breadth of the Netherlands interests across the underwater domain. In the arena of maritime defence Belgium/ Netherlands cooperation is now institutionalised in the Admiralty Benelux and the combining of the Belgian and Dutch naval operations staffs. These are unique arrangements in the maritime domain and especially within the realm of underwater defence.

The latest Netherlands defence policy, published in 2018, highlights the investments the host nation will be making in the underwater domain. These investments are across the spectrum of underwater defence with major programmes in the mine countermeasures, ASW frigate, and submarine platforms highlighted in the most recent policy papers.

Within the ASW domain. the Netherlands is funding a Maritime Unmanned Systems programme, and interest and focus on torpedo defence is of increasing prominence. These programme developments reflect the Netherlands approach to its defence needs, but many other nations face similar challenges and share the same needs. For example, the need within these programmes to be clear on the endurance requirements of these platforms and capabilities. Is the deciding factor to be patrol endurance (ie port to port), will it be deployment endurance (homeport to homeport) or is to be the matching of individual capabilities to the overall demands of Task Group endurance?

These considerations have a major bearing on investment and design in all aspects of a capability, from material to personnel. UDT is an ideal platform to explore these and other aspects of future technological design and employment.