The acquisition of H225M Caracal aircraft, which will be used for special operations missions, coincides with the order of AARGM-ER missiles for F-35A fighters.
The Ministry of Defence of the Netherlands has announced the acquisition of 14 H225M helicopters, manufactured by Airbus, which will be used in special operations missions (SOFs), replacing the fleet of a dozen H215Ms that the country’s armed forces now have. This choice follows a process of evaluation of several models, of which only two remained in competition, this one and the US-made Black Hawk, which do meet the Dutch requirements, according to the country’s Secretary of Defense, Christophe van der Maat.
The Dutch department explains in a statement that the purchase of these aircraft “is one of the measures with which the Ministry of Defense converts a squadron of the Defense Helicopter Command into a SOF [unit].” The text recalls that the strengthening of the capabilities of these SOFs “for land and maritime operations is the spearhead of the Defense Memorandum published last year.”
The operation, whose value has not been disclosed, includes new mission equipment for the aircraft and a flight simulator, as well as training services for helicopter crews and technical personnel. Van der Maat advanced the information in an interview with the local newspaper De Telegraaf that echoes the specialized portal Meta-Défense.fr, which also includes a wide range in which the price of this purchase is estimated: between 1,000 and 2,500 million euros.
The choice of the Airbus H225M over the UH-60 Black Hawk, from the American Sikorsky (currently in the hands of the giant Lockheed Martin), is due to the larger size of its cabin and the equipment it includes, according to the aforementioned media.