Netherlands; Army to equip its soldiers with personal C-UAV kits

The Royal Netherlands Army plans to equip its soldiers with personal drone-protection gear, including targeting lasers and portable sensors, in an effort to counter the threat of small unmanned aircraft systems that has transformed battlefields.

The Dutch defense department plans to spend between €50 million and €250 million to buy the personal anti-drone kit. Envisioned technologies include electro-optical aiming devices for personal weapons, such as targeting lasers, which would significantly increase targeting accuracy against small drones at a distance of 200 meters.

The war in Ukraine and developments in the Middle East show the drone threat is acute, and Dutch troops currently lack the requisite equipment to effectively protect themselves, State Secretary for Defence Gijs Tuinman wrote in a letter to parliament last week. Given the urgency, the Defence Ministry is looking to buy anti-drone kit in the first quarter of 2025.

“Military personnel may increasingly face attacks or unwanted reconnaissance using small unmanned systems, including drones,” Tuinman wrote in his letter. “The ability to take out UAS is essential to the security of our military and the missions and tasks they perform.”

While the Netherlands is turning to layered air-defense systems for larger drones, combating small and inexpensive drones with such systems is neither efficient nor effective, according to Tuinman. Instead, soldiers mostly rely on personal weapons or standard weapon systems, with “limited” hit probability due to drones’ small size, high speed and ability to hover, he said.

Other kit includes portable jammers to disrupt drone signals, and portable radio-frequency sensors that allow for earlier spotting of a possible drone threat. Experiments with C-UAS assets show that there’s no one single asset that will effectively address the threat of small drones, Tuinman said.