We never had a problem with spending money on good investments. We give the most money per capita to the EU by far, and that is also a great investment. Spending more on our own military industry is not a bad deal at all. Creates high level engineering jobs and knowledge transfer, expanding industrial base, all the money comes back anyway.
@@TheSuperappelflap Eh.. 1. Trump zei als eerst dat Europese landen zich aan de NATO norm moeten houden(of anders) . 2. De EEG was zo'n slecht idee nog niet? Maar het gedrocht wat de EU heet heeft geen mandaat. Wat mij betreft mogen ze de Benelux wel weer wat belangrijker maken? Daar delen wij veel meer waarden mee.
Should have added that the Dutch Marines are the first marines (in a modern sense) in the world. Not the US Marines as many wish to believe. Established on 10 December 1665 and based on the classical era of Trireme ships (Mediterranean from the 7th to the 4th centuries BC) where after ramming the soldiers boarding the enemy ships. Yet the Dutch were the first to change the concept into what we are more known with today and calling it "Mariniers" (which in English changed to Marines). The first ideas came as early as 1627 on the initiative of Lieutenant Admiral Philips van Dorp, 1000 soldiers were distributed over ships to enter enemy ships. However after the Peace of Münster treaty in 1648 the troops disappeared again from the fleet. In 1663 there was a request to add them again, but this was declined. In 1665 these were added after all on initiative from Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and Lieutenant Admiral Michiel de Ruyter. The first commander was Willem Joseph van Ghent after whom the Van Ghentkazerne in Rotterdam is named. December 10, 1665 is considered the founding date of the Corps. The corps was put into action during the Raid on Medway (in Dutch "Toch naar Chatham") as one of their first major incidents (and a huge blow to the English crown). Now unlike the US counter parts, the Dutch Marines train globally and do a even tougher training then the US Marines. You could there for easily say the Dutch Marines are the US marines but on steriods. KCT is however taking that even to a much higher level and MARSOF being a Dutch SEAL team which roughly could do the same as the American teams, yet have the luxury of being more hidden as even the regular Dutch civilian hardly knows about their existence. They are however much broader trained and can be put into various situations and there for are far more capable in a broad sense of the word. This due to the team being rather small in numbers and having to make up for that. Which doesn't make them a easy target at all. Regarding the Fennek vehicles, these are so cramped that tall people can't enter. You need to be rather short to even get inside them. While being a well capable vehicle, they make you remind of a typical clown car if it comes to the soldiers that need to get in this cramped vehicle. There are 4 Walrus Class submarines, not 3. 2 are indeed going to be upgraded, but the rumors are that all 4 will get the same upgrades instead being replaced completely. Giving a total of 8 submarines including the new 4 that will be added soon. These old Diesel subs might look dated, but even the US Navy couldn't find a single Walrus class submarine during a Navy war game operation. Even with the Americans cheating in getting a additional fleet in without telling the Dutch Navy. The Dutch Walrus class managed to sneak in, kill the primary target and take out the secondaries, then sneak out without being spotted once. If that isn't a middle finger to the mighty US Navy... For the Rotterdam-class ships, 1 is to be replaced and the crew is actually temporarily placed on a Karel Doorman-class frigate (which is now pretty much laying in port without a task). Once the replacement ship is ready, the crew will be placed on that new ship. This new ship will be more similar to a helicopter carrier mixed with the original task of the Rotterdam-class and being much bigger. For some additional info: ua-cam.com/video/CjX5_KprcEM/v-deo.html&ab_channel=NavalNews (0:54 Look at the bottom listing on this chart, LPD & Patrol Vessel replacement. Patrol vessel being the Holland-class and LPD being the Rotterdam-class) (Yes, they did claim the ships would be smaller. But the image shown there shows a ship that's much bigger) All 4 Alkmaar class ships have their destinations already, 2 of which going to Ukraine after being refitted with more modern equipment. Ukraine info: www.naval-technology.com/projects/alkmaar-class-mine-countermeasures-vessels-netherlands/ De Zeven Provincien -class has 4 currently, with the 2 new ones that will be 6. I have however some intel that suggests it will be 4-6 new ships instead of 2 new ones. Which would bring the hypothetical total to 10. With the current Russia-Ukraine war situation it seems the Dutch Navy is waking up and trying to rebuild their navy from the ground up. However also this much older ship class seems to be included as it stands now. The 4 existing ships would get a upgrade to modern standards while the new ships are planned to have them build in from the start. The Netherlands punches well above their weight class for centuries. The current problem is that the numbers are so low thanks to the government being delusional and dumb. I seriously do hope in coming years it's back to where it should be if not better. There is talk of conscription, although these voices are not spoken out loud as it might panic the people. The main goal first is to get enough material, uniforms, vehicles, etc. before adding new personnel. This would however mean that both men as women are conscripted. Technically speaking conscription is still by law mandatory although the military is rather avoiding the issue and not sending out those letters of conscription (which I think is a dumb idea, it would be very good to see this fully return. Regardless if you are part of the blue haired freakshow or not. Some discipline can do wonders)
@@JW-1980 Yup, just as the GOALKEEPER system that the US would love to get their hands on, but were refused. This leading to the US making their own variant.
@@JW-1980 Thats not the only thing Thales makes that is world class, they produce a lot of different specialized equipment for other NATO countries. Because of the smaller size of European countries and limited budgets compared to the US military, every country specializes in some areas and then we put all those components together to make very high quality military equipment together. For example Sweden which recently joined NATO, has been cooperating with NATO countries for joint development for a long time and they have their own very high quality aircraft and naval fleet. These are very complex international supply chains so its also a vulnerability, if one of those components cannot be manufactured or delivered it will be difficult to manage that situation, but its also a strength because of the specialization it allows where a big country like the USA has to invest in matching that quality on all fronts by themselves. Of course we also have joint projects with the US like the JSF. The performance of these European systems in Ukraine clearly shows that this system is effective at countering a much larger military force with sheer quality and efficiency. With military budgets now expanded due to the security concers, i think you will se a lot more examples of world class Dutch, German, Swedish, French, etc, military engineering in the future. The import tariffs Trump tried during his first term already showed that even the US is heavily reliant on things like Dutch and German steel for civilian industry. And of course the lithography machines from ASML are one of the hottest commodities on the planet that wars may be started over. We have a long and proud tradition of engineering here on the mainland of Europe just like the UK and US and Japan do.
TBF the British also have a good claim of having the first marines. It's a question of months and depends on what can be considered the First "official" indicator of having a formal marine corps.
@@roykliffen9674 While the British Marines are dated to 1664, they can not back it up by more then that date. While as you might have noticed, the Dutch marines are present quite a bit longer then that. So, sorry to tell you this. But that claim wouldn't be true :)
Like all Western militaries, the Netherlands is still hopelessly underequipped for massive drone and anti-drone warfare, especially when it comes to personnel. But Ukraine was a wake-up call, and they are scaling up. Whether it will be sufficient remains to be seen.
@@whoknows8225 From everywhere of course, short range and long range.There are hardly limitations. What geographics problem prevents the Netherlands from using them, during wartime and on missions?
Very nice. A lot of things I didn't know. Minor detail : 1:30 : "The Netherlands is one [-] of the 27 member states of the European Union or the EU." Together with Belgium and Luxembourg The Netherlands in 1944 formed the Benelux. Which laid the foundation for the later European Union.
@@daanstrik4293 No lol. It used to be, that was called the EEG. But now, it's a much bigger, more fleshed out political ideology of unification. It's to avoid bloodshed, on the continent that saw the most wars throughout history, from ever happening again. That's why the EU exists. ...And the economical benefits sweeten the deal aswell.
The Benelux countries were also 3 of the 6 founding members of the precursor to the EU, the other 3 being France, West Germany and Italy. Which is historically very interesting if you draw parallells between the borders of those countries and then the HRE or the Carolingian empire. You might say its a project that has been thousands of years in the making.
@@Rasaevire The Spanish, Portuguese and British are all technically older, but they did not yet operate in the way modern Marine Corps do. Which is why what he said was correct, the Dutch was the first Modern Marine Corp, but not the first in general. That said, I do also consider the Dutch one the oldest, and the others as technicalities.
@@Rasaevire It depends a little on how you define "marine corps". The Spanish and Italians were the first to use specially trained sailors as infantry, with the Spanish Marine Corps being the oldest such corps still in active service. The Netherlands and the British came after that, but I'm not sure which of them created the first "true marine corps", i.e. a dedicated corps of specially trained infantry who aren't also sailors. But since they are working closely together I suppose they can share that distinction :)
I love seeing the conception of the Korps Mariniers in the movie "Michiel De Ruyter", however I do think it's a bit of a matter of semantics on what the first marine corps actually was. Do hoplites on board ships of ancient Greece not count?
The Dutch army also has a strong presence in the Dutch Caribbean, to patrol the drug routes between South America and the US, but also because it borders Venezuela. According to Venezuela, the Dutch Caribbean islands are part of their territory. In 2010, there was almost a conflict between the Netherlands and Venezuela, because the American DEA arrested a Venezuelan consul in Aruba. President Hugo Chavez then sent his naval fleet to the Dutch Caribbean. Eventually, The Hague released the consul because he has immunity. Washington was furious with the Netherlands. In addition, there is compulsory military service on the Dutch Caribbean islands. That is why there are militia units on Aruba and Curaçao. The Dutch navy has two naval bases here and there are two marines, a commando corps stationed. In addition, there is a rotating army company. On all six Caribbean islands there is also a Royal Netherlands Coast Guard and Royal Marechaussee (Gendarme). The Dutch Customs is present on three islands.
Was het niet zo tijdens de MH17 gebeuren dat er een bepaald zuid amerikaans land 1 van onze bewindseiland bedreigde met een aantal mariene bootjes. En wie moesten we ookal om hulp vragen, omdat we niks daar in de buurt hadden of uberhaupt iets konden sturen
Unfortunately, a few Dutch Marines were arrested for attempting to smuggle drugs themselves when the reason for their deployment in the Caribbean was to *fight* the cocaine trade.
Never seen a video that describes the modern Dutch armed forces in such a detailed and correct way. I went into the video wondering how much would be correct and how deep the info would be, but I'm positively surprised by everything! There probably are some minor stuff that's missing but well, that's minor. Are you from the Netherlands yourself?
The Dutch actually owns an F16 patent and built them at the Fokker factory for other European countries which is the reason why there are version differences compared to the United States models. Also HIMARS installations and more Patriot systems. Next to this there are also a bunch of private defense contractors developing new unmanned systems and thinking about NGAD unmanned drone fighter jets for the F35 networked platform
Dutch marines are good at specialized tasks, we don't have large numbers, that's why we are specialists. specialized in humanitarian rescue missions, such as UN tasks, security, arctic training, anti-terrorism and hijackings. Furthermore, We have some of the best frogmen and mountain leaders in the world, they have high-quality equipment and combat knowledge and a mentality that is equal to the toughest army's in the world. We never give up!!
Thats nonsense. You base it on what the mariniers once were. Fact of the matter is that every country has specialized troops. And a number of those now have combat experience, which is very important. Furthermore, we only have a couple of 1000. Thats what Ukrain loses in a day.
@@sahin569 Thats not true. Im not allowed to say much on that, but the dutch troops were not marines, lightly equipped and were facing tanks and all the rest. They asked air support 3 times and were told to put that in writing. What happened there was a setup. Those people were betrayed by their own leaders, just as the dutch soldiers were by theirs. A day later the siege of Sarajevo ended. It was a deal. And what happened to those people, although of course the actual culprits are unnamed, was revenge for what they did to the opposite side there in that region. Apart from all the victims, the dutch soldiers were also victimized. And the dutch people as a whole.
As far as I'm aware, the French built replacement submarines for the Walrus class are not slatted to carry tomahawks because the French builder does not have the security clearance to install them. Perhaps they will be added later by a different company. But as I heard, it will be tricky.
The French aren't building them alone. It was a bid by the NAVAL group and a network of Dutch companies that help installing and developing the systems.
Right now, they're saying Tomahawks for the subs. But we'll see, what the Dutch government said is any of the competitors (from France/Sweden/Germany) would've faced the same missile integration issue. France, though, has the Tomahawk-equivalent MdCN as a possible alternative.
@@DefenseIndexThe navi then has to buy and maintain two different weaponsystems where one was planned. The US must stop and threat allies as enemies. The EU must create a unified weapons market. Bring together the best in the market to create one very very good system of a kind, instead of making moderate systems that cannot integrate or are not allowed on other countries platforms. The EU stands for Union, but under the hood there is a lot of friction and self preservation between the "united" nations.
@@jl-rq7uxonly union that exists in the EU is between the hang arounds in Brussels and Strasbourg making sure everyone’s money flows into their private pockets😂
I thought this was a 200K plus channel. Apparently it is not, though the content definitely is at that level. You gained yourself another sub, keep making videos
Excellent video. I had to do a double take when looking at your subscriber count, expecting "207K", rather than "207" subscribers. The amount of research, clarity of presentation and overall production are of a standard that far exceeds this number. I have obviously liked and subscribed, and hopefully many more will do the same in the future. Keep up the good work!
How can you judge that, if you dont know FACTS? What is said on military is BS, but you or the people that voted you up, have no idea of that, so you think whatever is said and sounds good, is true.
at 6:21 you could've probably mentioned that rotterdam is the largest port in europe and therefore we are probably going to be an important transit hub in such a scenario
@@Thule-gesellschaft I'm also from Belgium and am not happy with the state of the armed forces, hence why I'm joining, can't complain about something and not try to help to fix it :)
A little mistake in the video at 20:00, all of the Dutch CH47 it currently has started life as the F model. The first 6 F models were delivered in the early 2010’s to replace 2 lost D models and grow the fleet to a total of 17 chinooks. (11x D, 6x F). These original F models did have special adaptations for the RNLAF, and were different compared to the standard US version. After the introduction of the F model, plans were made to upgrade the existing D models to F models, but after research the NL MOD found out it was actually better to replace the existing D, as of the original order of 13 units in 1993, only 6 were brand new, the other 7 are CH47C bought from Canada and upgraded to the D model. In 2015 the RNLAF ordered 14 new CH47F, to raplace the D models and grow the fleet to 20 units. To save some costs, the RNLAF bought the same versions as the US army, specifically the CH-47F MYII CAAS, as this was cheaper compared to more custimized versions like the original order of 6 F models, though the 14 newly ordered did have some slight upgrades compared to the US version, but nothing major. In order to get full fleet commonality, the RNLAF decided to upgrade the “old” F models tot the same standard as the “new” F models. Not a single Dutch CH-47D has been upgraded to ghe CH-47F model!
I have been at Thales, a very big dutch company for a school project. They produce all sorts of radar systems for a bunch of countries. Almost all of the radar systems on dutch navy ships are from thales. 22:36 I have seen this radar system and it is really large, you can walk through it! And it has a range of over 2000 km! 37:16 This is a test room in thales I have been here. Very cool video, I really liked it!
kinda upset you didn't mention the OOCL (Operationeel Ondersteunigs Commando Landstrijdkrachten) which is the biggest branch in the Dutch army and supports the fighting troops I myself serve in this branch!
Excellent video! Nevertheless I have a couple remarks. The Dutch armed forces will acquire some 500 Caracal vehicles and Germany approx. 1,000. I miss the Vector ATV used by KCT, MARSOF and the Ranger Battalion (part of 11 Air Assault Brigade). Other than that, again, excellent video. Keep up the good work!
This is a good overview which I haven't seen in the Dutch media. Question for defence experts, given the experience of the war in Ukraine: do you also get the impression that we have a relatively low number of artillery systems?
Netherlands wil never go at it alone, so we will always be integrated with other NATO force and systems... NATO, in 2024 has around 15.000 artillerty pieces, this includes towed, self-propeled and MLRSystems...
The organization for the logistics is called NDTA, it’s a combination of Belgium, Dutch and US army and Dutch and Belgian civilians who are specialized in logistics. The reason is that Antwerp and Rotterdam are the two biggest harbors in Europe and consist of the best logistics due to their infrastructure is very complicated but super efficient. We are the gate to Germany and Europe!
They operated 196 CV90s and 100 Leopard 2A6 in 2010. The Ministry of Defence thought the CV-90 could take on all the roles of the Leopard plus more and sold them with the 50 PRTL's and 24 m270's
Great video, pretty accurate and complete except that you didn’t mention the establisment of the 12th Ranger Batallion as part of the 11th Air Mobile Brigade.
Do not forget ABC caraibian countries and municipalities like aruba, curaçao, st martin, saba, bonaire and st eustatius its a bit bigger and strategic interesting country...
Rheinmetall will make this year already 700.000 155 mm ammo. Next year they hope it wil be 1 million and they are building three new factories. America is way behind 155 mm munations.
At one point, recently, the Dutch military was so underfunded that during exercises they had to yell "Pew pew pew" because bullets were just too expensive
that's been the case since all the way back in the late 90s, my dad was a volunteer in the royal netherlands army as a paratrooper and later became a commando, during basic training they occasionally had to yell "peng peng peng!" which is, well a bit odd but i suppose it works?
Really great Video! I did not know your channel before, but youve got a new subscriber :) p.s.: I found your rate of speaking a bit slow, but no problem with youtube (x1,15 Speed fits best for me)
@ yes. ‘Army’ is only the land force (Koninklijke Landmacht). DSI is made up of Police and military members (Marines, Army and Marechaussee - don’t think that have Navy (fleet) and Air Force)
Probably the most important role of the Netherlands during the Cold War and again in the current era of escalating tension is that of pre-eminent logistic and transportation hub for NATO on mainland Europe. Large harbour for equipment disembarcation coupled with strong West to East transportation infrastructure such as railway, highway, and fuel pipelines.This is where re-inforcing NATO presence in Europe starts.
About the natres. They are allound to serve a broad. For security and supporting tasks. But you get ask to volunteer to go abroad. They can not force you.
the main component of the danish armed forces is the national guard (hjemmeværnet), which wastly outnumbers the standing army. A cheap and efficient way of protecting the homeland. other countries, please take notice of this!
Nice video, thanks! I subscribed to your channel. This video is a bit long though. I like the thoroughness, but I would also like a bit shorter videos. But maybe that's not your aim/goal?
Thank you! That's a story in itself. At the end of the Cold War and the disbandment of many military units throughout Europe, the older Leopard 1's (about half the 900+) were quickly sold or donated. The Dutch had initially planned to keep the Leopard 2's (the other half) as several tank battalions post-Cold War but through the years they kept reducing those units and reselling the Leo 2's to other countries, mostly to other European countries and some to Canada -- until by 2011, they had none. The 18 tanks the Dutch have leased from the Germans since 2015 were actually the last ones the Dutch had formerly owned and sold back to Germany, which then upgraded them and leased them to the Dutch.
Leopard 1s were donated to Greece and sold to Chile, and some were scrapped or repurposed, e.g. as targets. Leopard 2s were sold to Austria, Finland and Norway. Funny detail: Austria (not a NATO ally) didn't demand any quality standards, so it received the tanks that were in the worst condition.
I wonder who initiated and financed this promotion for the Dutch armed forces and who it's aimed at. Yes, it is informative , well made and even, as far as I can tell true... but as currently the only content on this channel during times in which there is a lot of upheaval about this subject I am suspicious...
Well done. I think you are a bit flattering, but still, good content. The challenge now is to divide up the little we have between ourselves, our partners Germany, UK and of course, especially Ukraine.
I gotta wonder, with the odd intonation and emphasis on words (as if the reader has no idea what words come next or when a sentence ends): are these videos voiced by text-to-speech?
The Netherlands has 42K soldiers. That is not so many. Of course that is not the point. The Netherlands is a nuclear power with about 250 nuclear missiles, capable of reaching any country, even China. The Americans have about 30 in the Netherlands.
Really ? This is your first and only video ? Come on, make mooooore. I liked the taste of this one, so I'm hungry for more. Do Belgium next. Or expand on the Dutch - UK collaberation. And @all: watch Big Mac's Battle Blog, or Brandon Mitchel. They're awesome.
As one who tried to get into the Dutch military, i can say with certainty there is a lack of sophisticated selection process. There is a strong bias to certain groups of people (non race/sex) and when showing they made an error in process they will ignore you. They boast Integrity but they lack it aswel as owning up to their errors.
5:14 that's incorrect. Dutch forces where deployed in afganistan from 2002 until 2021 and there are still some Dutch officers in support roles deployed in Afganistan.
0 dutch in afghan now and the major combat operation ended then yes, We went back for a police/training mission but it wasn't a combat operation anymore
18:30 the Netherlands stores the largest stockpile of B61 nuclear gravity bombs in Europe…as with respect to its nuclear role in the US/Nato nuclear triad
Volkel airbase is cleared for a maximum of 15 B61 nuclear weapons. This is the maximum number of warheads the storage vaults at the airbase can hold. So 15 max and the actual number of weapons that is stored is classified but is likely less. This is the same number of weapons that are stored in Belgium and Germany. Italy and Turkey are cleared for 20 warheads each so these two countries potentially have more warheads in their bases vaults then the Netherlands. This is the latest information from the Federation of American Scientists from december 2023. Everything is highly classified so things might have changed but your statement that ''the Netherlands stores the largest stockpile of B61 nuclear gravity bombs in Europe'' is nonsence.
Ex-PM Lubbers once claimed there were 22 B61's in Volkel AB. Asked for a reaction, a RNLAF spokesman said these ""are never spoken of". www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22840880
Note that the new Submarines were signed, but are not allowed tomahawk missles because Washington doesnt trust the french not to steal their design. They may be added afterwards.
to be able to scale up significantly, i would think bringing back conscription is the most logical step. that could easily produce a100.000 reserve personnel in a couple of years. Spain has another good trick, i think, to get more soldiers: south americans who join the spanish army get a spanish passport after a couple of years of service. they have of course the great advantage of the common language.....difficult for the dutch to find people wiith the same language...
Conscription?! Please NO! 90% of our populace cries when they have to walk a mile in the rain, or when they have to get out of bed early or are expected to finish their responsibilities before resting. Not to mention the woke mindvirus that will spill into one of the final places relatively clean of that nonsense.
Capabel Defense, great joke your majesty 7:17the boxer was not designed as a combat vehicle 11:50 the Fennek is severely outdated and not suitable as a combat vehicle, but is suitable as a reconnaissance vehicle or launch platform for anti-tank weapons. 
Unbelievable that the Netherlands had 1000 tanks and 300 fighter jets late 1980s. Defence has to be considered as having an insurance. Ukraine has shown us that we could almost spare no weapons or ordnance.
Back then the NATO was much smaller and the Russians where much closer but i agree that it's stil unbelieveble that the goverment made such terrible choises...
My grandfather worked on the leopard 1s and we olso have m109 paladins thed can be put back in working condition in a short time but fore now ar just fore training transporting tanks via truck
The airforce is OK, the navy is OK-ish, the land army is still ridiculously small. Professional soldiers are so expensive to keep on payroll that few EU country can afford more than a few thousand. Seeing that a Soviet-type army can field hundreds of thousands, there is no other way than training up a sizeable reservist force, even if it seems like a huge waste of time for young men (and possibly women). Also, let's not forget about the ammo - while the number of F-35s or helicopters seem nice, the whole army is defunct if it runs out of ammo in 2 weeks of fighting. Or food. Or fuel. Logistics is an invisible, but vital part of the army, something the government can't go boasting about, so probably getting underfunded.
Possibly? Im not going if they arent. Its equality time. They voted for it. If they dont want to fight then they can cook and clean stuff and repair broken equipment, but I say theyre going, same as the men. Im not going to risk my life for them without any effort from their part, with how theyve been treating men in this country over the past decades.
Half of our forces quit when they heard they were about to go on a mission, the other half quit afterwards when they came home by freight plane because the government thought an passenger plane was to expensive and it was corona time so straight to quarantine
Its always nice to know that the enemy knows EXACTLY how much we have of everything. Nice that my country is such an open book, that saves our future enemy a whole lot of research... Just mark them off as you go.. Splendid.. thankfully we're in NATO, cause militairy wise we've not surpassed 1940's 'bicycle warfar 101'
The Dutch Royal Navy I hold in high regard the rest has become a joke. At the end of the 80s we had almost 1000 leopard tanks. In 2024.. a few borrowed tanks from Germany. And judging from the number of open jobs nobody is interested in fighting careers anymore.
on the other hand, we saved Billions and billions in costs of unused materials. which makes us quite rich. so now we can basically buy whatever we want.
@@CyberBeep_kenshi Maybe we should focus on "simple" matters like compensation for the child benefits affair in The Netherlands. Because if we are not able to solve small matters how can we be trusted with big matters?
The 'old army' was made for 'old style wars'. Big numbers needed to oppose huge invading forces. Currently, the Dutch Army is very capable of doing specialised tasks, together with allies. This army suits the current, and very changed situation.
@@UnusSedLeo-w5l Steadfast Defender 2024 was the biggest NATO exercise since the Cold War. The whole doctrine switch from GWOT back to Cold War started happening since 2022. We're buying tanks, bringing SPGs out of storage, acquiring rocket artillery and increasing readiness levels. These are not signs of a focus on specialized tasks but a clear doctrine shift back to large-scale high intensity conflicts. Ukraine just showed these wars are not relics of history. I'm not saying I believe Russia will invade a NATO state, but not being ready for war has hurt us in the past and can always do so again. I'm assuming with specialized tasks you're talking about our minesweeper focus and SOF from submarines or just our general focus on training for assymetric threats, and some of these can/will still fit well into the new bigger picture.
I don't really see what we need tanks for, I think increased specialisation of national armies while integrating them on a European level is the way forward. We use German tanks, they use our sensors and marine expertise.
I am from the Netherlands and a proud that we as a small nation work closely with our neighbors and not the US for me personally it’s become clear that the us wants a radical religious Christian dictatorship under Trump, I would have some hope for a Harris administration but….. the world is better of with out a Christian,putting loving pathetic blode us president who’s only interest is not to get convinced. I applaud Europe for following the current events and in doing so supporting Ukraine more importantly strengthening the EU defenses! Let me be clear the current events shows us that the accords made for the un after WW2 have failed, especially concerning the security council witch includes us Russia and china, if one suggest one thin the rest will veto this and as such it needs to be restructured and all tree need to be kicked out of it and replaced by a temporary council with a government who has been elected by the people in a free election ( and I don’t care if it’s left, right or trough the middle, the voters decide) The current events shows the world that it is time for a new un character with out the us, Russia or china leading the Assembly of the free world
as far as i know there are several problems with the new subs firing tomahawks. There is no permission of the USA to implement the systems needed to fire the tomahawk from the new french subs causing major upset on top of an already controversial path to buy french instead of building dutch systems or buy german.
The Dutch are no longer capable of building subs (that company went backrupt in the 90's). You mean a Swedish sub (the name Damen was only there for the illusion of the sub being Dutch).
Great video and true the Dutch armed forces get new, good material with two exceptions that are bad decisions. First to buy the new subs in France by Naval in stead of buying the proposal of SAAB-Damen. That French design is the same design that Australia rejected after many problems and choosed for U.S. build nucleair subs. Buying the iveco Manticore what is a real bad vehicle, is the other bad decision. Our Belgian brothers in Arms have also iveco's and they have only tchnical problems with them. The German build Dingo was a better option. Last but not least the Dutch armed forces should be asap get rid of the VW Amarok wich is a nice vehicle but not for armed forces. Maybe at an military airport or a naval base but not for the Army.
Lots of barracks in all the cities, even the small ones. Most of those are now closed or converted to office space, schools, housing for refugees, etc.
And there was a lot of US personnel stationed in the Netherlands as well! For example the USAF, 32 Tactical Fighter Squadron ‘Wolfhounds’ at airport Soesterberg. Tank exercises were done a lot in Germany, more space!
i guess "compact but capable" is one way to say the koninklijke landmacht went from over nearly 900 tanks and 2000 IFVs to barely 124 IFVs in 10 years.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Russia sure has accomplished much. They made the Dutch spend money.
Spot on. As a Dutch, I'm not even offended.
@@Ikbeneengeit Eh..
We were ruled by a Russophobe imbecile for more than a decade. That's probably the reason why he's the NAVO top guy at the moment.
We never had a problem with spending money on good investments. We give the most money per capita to the EU by far, and that is also a great investment. Spending more on our own military industry is not a bad deal at all. Creates high level engineering jobs and knowledge transfer, expanding industrial base, all the money comes back anyway.
@@TheSuperappelflap Eh.. 1. Trump zei als eerst dat Europese landen zich aan de NATO norm moeten houden(of anders) . 2. De EEG was zo'n slecht idee nog niet? Maar het gedrocht wat de EU heet heeft geen mandaat. Wat mij betreft mogen ze de Benelux wel weer wat belangrijker maken? Daar delen wij veel meer waarden mee.
Should have added that the Dutch Marines are the first marines (in a modern sense) in the world. Not the US Marines as many wish to believe. Established on 10 December 1665 and based on the classical era of Trireme ships (Mediterranean from the 7th to the 4th centuries BC) where after ramming the soldiers boarding the enemy ships. Yet the Dutch were the first to change the concept into what we are more known with today and calling it "Mariniers" (which in English changed to Marines). The first ideas came as early as 1627 on the initiative of Lieutenant Admiral Philips van Dorp, 1000 soldiers were distributed over ships to enter enemy ships. However after the Peace of Münster treaty in 1648 the troops disappeared again from the fleet.
In 1663 there was a request to add them again, but this was declined. In 1665 these were added after all on initiative from Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and Lieutenant Admiral Michiel de Ruyter. The first commander was Willem Joseph van Ghent after whom the Van Ghentkazerne in Rotterdam is named. December 10, 1665 is considered the founding date of the Corps. The corps was put into action during the Raid on Medway (in Dutch "Toch naar Chatham") as one of their first major incidents (and a huge blow to the English crown).
Now unlike the US counter parts, the Dutch Marines train globally and do a even tougher training then the US Marines. You could there for easily say the Dutch Marines are the US marines but on steriods. KCT is however taking that even to a much higher level and MARSOF being a Dutch SEAL team which roughly could do the same as the American teams, yet have the luxury of being more hidden as even the regular Dutch civilian hardly knows about their existence. They are however much broader trained and can be put into various situations and there for are far more capable in a broad sense of the word. This due to the team being rather small in numbers and having to make up for that. Which doesn't make them a easy target at all.
Regarding the Fennek vehicles, these are so cramped that tall people can't enter. You need to be rather short to even get inside them. While being a well capable vehicle, they make you remind of a typical clown car if it comes to the soldiers that need to get in this cramped vehicle.
There are 4 Walrus Class submarines, not 3. 2 are indeed going to be upgraded, but the rumors are that all 4 will get the same upgrades instead being replaced completely. Giving a total of 8 submarines including the new 4 that will be added soon. These old Diesel subs might look dated, but even the US Navy couldn't find a single Walrus class submarine during a Navy war game operation. Even with the Americans cheating in getting a additional fleet in without telling the Dutch Navy. The Dutch Walrus class managed to sneak in, kill the primary target and take out the secondaries, then sneak out without being spotted once. If that isn't a middle finger to the mighty US Navy...
For the Rotterdam-class ships, 1 is to be replaced and the crew is actually temporarily placed on a Karel Doorman-class frigate (which is now pretty much laying in port without a task). Once the replacement ship is ready, the crew will be placed on that new ship. This new ship will be more similar to a helicopter carrier mixed with the original task of the Rotterdam-class and being much bigger. For some additional info: ua-cam.com/video/CjX5_KprcEM/v-deo.html&ab_channel=NavalNews
(0:54 Look at the bottom listing on this chart, LPD & Patrol Vessel replacement. Patrol vessel being the Holland-class and LPD being the Rotterdam-class)
(Yes, they did claim the ships would be smaller. But the image shown there shows a ship that's much bigger)
All 4 Alkmaar class ships have their destinations already, 2 of which going to Ukraine after being refitted with more modern equipment.
Ukraine info: www.naval-technology.com/projects/alkmaar-class-mine-countermeasures-vessels-netherlands/
De Zeven Provincien -class has 4 currently, with the 2 new ones that will be 6. I have however some intel that suggests it will be 4-6 new ships instead of 2 new ones. Which would bring the hypothetical total to 10. With the current Russia-Ukraine war situation it seems the Dutch Navy is waking up and trying to rebuild their navy from the ground up. However also this much older ship class seems to be included as it stands now. The 4 existing ships would get a upgrade to modern standards while the new ships are planned to have them build in from the start.
The Netherlands punches well above their weight class for centuries. The current problem is that the numbers are so low thanks to the government being delusional and dumb. I seriously do hope in coming years it's back to where it should be if not better. There is talk of conscription, although these voices are not spoken out loud as it might panic the people. The main goal first is to get enough material, uniforms, vehicles, etc. before adding new personnel. This would however mean that both men as women are conscripted. Technically speaking conscription is still by law mandatory although the military is rather avoiding the issue and not sending out those letters of conscription (which I think is a dumb idea, it would be very good to see this fully return. Regardless if you are part of the blue haired freakshow or not. Some discipline can do wonders)
I've also read on several occasions that a company in the Netherlands (Thales?) has developed the most accurate radar?
@@JW-1980 Yup, just as the GOALKEEPER system that the US would love to get their hands on, but were refused. This leading to the US making their own variant.
@@JW-1980 Thats not the only thing Thales makes that is world class, they produce a lot of different specialized equipment for other NATO countries.
Because of the smaller size of European countries and limited budgets compared to the US military, every country specializes in some areas and then we put all those components together to make very high quality military equipment together. For example Sweden which recently joined NATO, has been cooperating with NATO countries for joint development for a long time and they have their own very high quality aircraft and naval fleet.
These are very complex international supply chains so its also a vulnerability, if one of those components cannot be manufactured or delivered it will be difficult to manage that situation, but its also a strength because of the specialization it allows where a big country like the USA has to invest in matching that quality on all fronts by themselves. Of course we also have joint projects with the US like the JSF.
The performance of these European systems in Ukraine clearly shows that this system is effective at countering a much larger military force with sheer quality and efficiency.
With military budgets now expanded due to the security concers, i think you will se a lot more examples of world class Dutch, German, Swedish, French, etc, military engineering in the future. The import tariffs Trump tried during his first term already showed that even the US is heavily reliant on things like Dutch and German steel for civilian industry. And of course the lithography machines from ASML are one of the hottest commodities on the planet that wars may be started over. We have a long and proud tradition of engineering here on the mainland of Europe just like the UK and US and Japan do.
TBF the British also have a good claim of having the first marines. It's a question of months and depends on what can be considered the First "official" indicator of having a formal marine corps.
@@roykliffen9674 While the British Marines are dated to 1664, they can not back it up by more then that date. While as you might have noticed, the Dutch marines are present quite a bit longer then that. So, sorry to tell you this. But that claim wouldn't be true :)
Like all Western militaries, the Netherlands is still hopelessly underequipped for massive drone and anti-drone warfare, especially when it comes to personnel. But Ukraine was a wake-up call, and they are scaling up. Whether it will be sufficient remains to be seen.
yeah... how will you launch drones tho? from where? did you look at the geographics of the Netherlands?
@@whoknows8225 From everywhere of course, short range and long range.There are hardly limitations. What geographics problem prevents the Netherlands from using them, during wartime and on missions?
@@Drrolfski thought you meant against... will be hard to launch them from the sea without being noticed
@@whoknows8225 The Dutch are in control of the most accurate radars and also have the Caribbean islands.
Yea, thats not going to happen.
Even the US cant fill their quota.
Very nice. A lot of things I didn't know.
Minor detail : 1:30 : "The Netherlands is one [-] of the 27 member states of the European Union or the EU."
Together with Belgium and Luxembourg The Netherlands in 1944 formed the Benelux. Which laid the foundation for the later European Union.
The Benelux admiralty was mentioned.
Always funny to remember that the EU is basically a massively bloated trade agreement for coal & steel in the benelux.
@@daanstrik4293 No lol. It used to be, that was called the EEG. But now, it's a much bigger, more fleshed out political ideology of unification. It's to avoid bloodshed, on the continent that saw the most wars throughout history, from ever happening again. That's why the EU exists.
...And the economical benefits sweeten the deal aswell.
@@horowitz8680it's a magnet for freeloaders and leeches.
The Benelux countries were also 3 of the 6 founding members of the precursor to the EU, the other 3 being France, West Germany and Italy. Which is historically very interesting if you draw parallells between the borders of those countries and then the HRE or the Carolingian empire. You might say its a project that has been thousands of years in the making.
Dutch marine korps (late 1700s) is the oldest organized in modern way and 3rd or 4th marine corps ever.
dude its the first marine corpse ever.(1665) when America wasn't even an idea.
@@Rasaevire The Spanish, Portuguese and British are all technically older, but they did not yet operate in the way modern Marine Corps do. Which is why what he said was correct, the Dutch was the first Modern Marine Corp, but not the first in general.
That said, I do also consider the Dutch one the oldest, and the others as technicalities.
@@Rasaevire It depends a little on how you define "marine corps". The Spanish and Italians were the first to use specially trained sailors as infantry, with the Spanish Marine Corps being the oldest such corps still in active service. The Netherlands and the British came after that, but I'm not sure which of them created the first "true marine corps", i.e. a dedicated corps of specially trained infantry who aren't also sailors. But since they are working closely together I suppose they can share that distinction :)
@kaasmeester5903 winnaars schrijven geschiedenis dus die chorizomeesters kunnen kaas eten
I love seeing the conception of the Korps Mariniers in the movie "Michiel De Ruyter", however I do think it's a bit of a matter of semantics on what the first marine corps actually was. Do hoplites on board ships of ancient Greece not count?
The Dutch army also has a strong presence in the Dutch Caribbean, to patrol the drug routes between South America and the US, but also because it borders Venezuela. According to Venezuela, the Dutch Caribbean islands are part of their territory.
In 2010, there was almost a conflict between the Netherlands and Venezuela, because the American DEA arrested a Venezuelan consul in Aruba. President Hugo Chavez then sent his naval fleet to the Dutch Caribbean. Eventually, The Hague released the consul because he has immunity. Washington was furious with the Netherlands.
In addition, there is compulsory military service on the Dutch Caribbean islands. That is why there are militia units on Aruba and Curaçao.
The Dutch navy has two naval bases here and there are two marines, a commando corps stationed. In addition, there is a rotating army company. On all six Caribbean islands there is also a Royal Netherlands Coast Guard and Royal Marechaussee (Gendarme). The Dutch Customs is present on three islands.
Was het niet zo tijdens de MH17 gebeuren dat er een bepaald zuid amerikaans land 1 van onze bewindseiland bedreigde met een aantal mariene bootjes. En wie moesten we ookal om hulp vragen, omdat we niks daar in de buurt hadden of uberhaupt iets konden sturen
Good points. Sounds like a good topic.
Unfortunately, a few Dutch Marines were arrested for attempting to smuggle drugs themselves when the reason for their deployment in the Caribbean was to *fight* the cocaine trade.
@@AudieHolland all marines smuggle some illegal stuff.
NL would lose those islands in a heartbeat when Venezuela attacks. Logistics is mainly the issue. And I think NATO doesn't apply to those islands.
Never seen a video that describes the modern Dutch armed forces in such a detailed and correct way. I went into the video wondering how much would be correct and how deep the info would be, but I'm positively surprised by everything! There probably are some minor stuff that's missing but well, that's minor. Are you from the Netherlands yourself?
Thank you! I really appreciate that.
The Dutch actually owns an F16 patent and built them at the Fokker factory for other European countries which is the reason why there are version differences compared to the United States models. Also HIMARS installations and more Patriot systems. Next to this there are also a bunch of private defense contractors developing new unmanned systems and thinking about NGAD unmanned drone fighter jets for the F35 networked platform
I've also heard that there are some incentives to re-establish small arms production in NL but idk how they are doing now
Small correction; we do not have himars systems but bought PULS instead. First systems were delivered earlier this year.
Oekraïneleeghoofd gespot
Yea pity the F16 is not suited for prolonged combat.
F35 is even worse, with 70% non mission capable status.
@@user-uk9sd2ln7f Russische bot?
Dutch marines are good at specialized tasks, we don't have large numbers, that's why we are specialists. specialized in humanitarian rescue missions, such as UN tasks, security, arctic training, anti-terrorism and hijackings. Furthermore, We have some of the best frogmen and mountain leaders in the world, they have high-quality equipment and combat knowledge and a mentality that is equal to the toughest army's in the world. We never give up!!
Thats nonsense.
You base it on what the mariniers once were.
Fact of the matter is that every country has specialized troops. And a number of those now have combat experience, which is very important.
Furthermore, we only have a couple of 1000. Thats what Ukrain loses in a day.
yea we saw in bbosnia how your specialists soldiers ran away allowing a massacre, knowingly! many of them returned with a lot of guilt and no balls
@@sahin569 Thats not true.
Im not allowed to say much on that, but the dutch troops were not marines, lightly equipped and were facing tanks and all the rest. They asked air support 3 times and were told to put that in writing.
What happened there was a setup. Those people were betrayed by their own leaders, just as the dutch soldiers were by theirs.
A day later the siege of Sarajevo ended.
It was a deal.
And what happened to those people, although of course the actual culprits are unnamed, was revenge for what they did to the opposite side there in that region.
Apart from all the victims, the dutch soldiers were also victimized. And the dutch people as a whole.
@@StofStuiver shameful you cant even admit it
@@sahin569 Already explained that its not true.
Very well edited. Great video!
Greetings from the Netherlands 🇳🇱.
As far as I'm aware, the French built replacement submarines for the Walrus class are not slatted to carry tomahawks because the French builder does not have the security clearance to install them. Perhaps they will be added later by a different company. But as I heard, it will be tricky.
The French aren't building them alone. It was a bid by the NAVAL group and a network of Dutch companies that help installing and developing the systems.
@donenzonen I'm my opinion the national builder is often added because it makes the bid easier to sell politically.
Right now, they're saying Tomahawks for the subs. But we'll see, what the Dutch government said is any of the competitors (from France/Sweden/Germany) would've faced the same missile integration issue. France, though, has the Tomahawk-equivalent MdCN as a possible alternative.
@@DefenseIndexThe navi then has to buy and maintain two different weaponsystems where one was planned.
The US must stop and threat allies as enemies. The EU must create a unified weapons market. Bring together the best in the market to create one very very good system of a kind, instead of making moderate systems that cannot integrate or are not allowed on other countries platforms.
The EU stands for Union, but under the hood there is a lot of friction and self preservation between the "united" nations.
@@jl-rq7uxonly union that exists in the EU is between the hang arounds in Brussels and Strasbourg making sure everyone’s money flows into their private pockets😂
My compliments! The video is very accurate and up to date. Very well edited too.
Its a load of hogwash
Thank you! I appreciate it.
@@StofStuiver damn the dichotomy of man
I thought this was a 200K plus channel. Apparently it is not, though the content definitely is at that level. You gained yourself another sub, keep making videos
I appreciate that and reading it is really encouraging. Thanks for subscribing!
good and clear video, thanks. Strange it has not more views
Thank you and do appreciate your encouraging comment. This channel is just getting started and there's more to come.
@@DefenseIndex ai voice
I feel like this is just a chat gpt output thrown into a ai voiceover with stock footage :/
@@jesser1103 agreed, moving on to the next channel
Yeah its just getting sad now all effort thrown out of the window @jesser1103
Excellent video. I had to do a double take when looking at your subscriber count, expecting "207K", rather than "207" subscribers. The amount of research, clarity of presentation and overall production are of a standard that far exceeds this number. I have obviously liked and subscribed, and hopefully many more will do the same in the future. Keep up the good work!
Lets fix the subscriber amount
I really appreciate your kind words. Thanks for subscribing. Cheers!
Very well researched video. My compliments.
Tbf this is the video equivalent of reading out a wikipedia page
How can you judge that, if you dont know FACTS?
What is said on military is BS, but you or the people that voted you up, have no idea of that, so you think whatever is said and sounds good, is true.
Thank you! I appreciate that.
at 6:21 you could've probably mentioned that rotterdam is the largest port in europe and therefore we are probably going to be an important transit hub in such a scenario
That's right.
..except..the tNato transit harbour is Flushing...AWAY from the main PEACE trade port Rotterdam..
Please do the Belgian armed forces next, it would be a nice follow-up on this one!
That video would be too short
@@JamesRadnus Joke's on you fella
Im from Belgium. Atleast the Dutch spend money on defence Belgium is just a shitshow
@@Thule-gesellschaft I'm also from Belgium and am not happy with the state of the armed forces, hence why I'm joining, can't complain about something and not try to help to fix it :)
A little mistake in the video at 20:00, all of the Dutch CH47 it currently has started life as the F model. The first 6 F models were delivered in the early 2010’s to replace 2 lost D models and grow the fleet to a total of 17 chinooks. (11x D, 6x F). These original F models did have special adaptations for the RNLAF, and were different compared to the standard US version. After the introduction of the F model, plans were made to upgrade the existing D models to F models, but after research the NL MOD found out it was actually better to replace the existing D, as of the original order of 13 units in 1993, only 6 were brand new, the other 7 are CH47C bought from Canada and upgraded to the D model. In 2015 the RNLAF ordered 14 new CH47F, to raplace the D models and grow the fleet to 20 units. To save some costs, the RNLAF bought the same versions as the US army, specifically the CH-47F MYII CAAS, as this was cheaper compared to more custimized versions like the original order of 6 F models, though the 14 newly ordered did have some slight upgrades compared to the US version, but nothing major. In order to get full fleet commonality, the RNLAF decided to upgrade the “old” F models tot the same standard as the “new” F models. Not a single Dutch CH-47D has been upgraded to ghe CH-47F model!
Right, thanks for the clarification.
@ i forgot to add, but for the rest the video was really interesting and nice to watch!
I have been at Thales, a very big dutch company for a school project. They produce all sorts of radar systems for a bunch of countries. Almost all of the radar systems on dutch navy ships are from thales. 22:36 I have seen this radar system and it is really large, you can walk through it! And it has a range of over 2000 km! 37:16 This is a test room in thales I have been here.
Very cool video, I really liked it!
Glad you liked it. That's a great experience you had visiting Thales, one of the world's leading radar companies.
High quality video, keep this up and you'll make it.
Thank you! That's encouraging.
Well put together video man, really love the background shots
Thank you!
I learned a lot from this video, thanks!
kinda upset you didn't mention the OOCL (Operationeel Ondersteunigs Commando Landstrijdkrachten) which is the biggest branch in the Dutch army and supports the fighting troops I myself serve in this branch!
Veels te lange naam om te onthouden, zelfs in het Nederlands.
Waarom niet gewoon OCL (Ondersteunings Commando Landstrijdaargh)?
Wat doen jullie? Mankracht of zijn jullie de oren en ogen van?
@@mikewiersma5160 ik zit persoonlijk in de bevoorrading. Maar de genie, verbindingsdienst en luchtverdediging vallen hier allen ook onder :)
Up to date en wel done.thx
Thanks!
Excellent video! Nevertheless I have a couple remarks. The Dutch armed forces will acquire some 500 Caracal vehicles and Germany approx. 1,000. I miss the Vector ATV used by KCT, MARSOF and the Ranger Battalion (part of 11 Air Assault Brigade). Other than that, again, excellent video. Keep up the good work!
This is a good overview which I haven't seen in the Dutch media. Question for defence experts, given the experience of the war in Ukraine: do you also get the impression that we have a relatively low number of artillery systems?
Netherlands wil never go at it alone, so we will always be integrated with other NATO force and systems...
NATO, in 2024 has around 15.000 artillerty pieces, this includes towed, self-propeled and MLRSystems...
Thank you for excellent content!
The organization for the logistics is called NDTA, it’s a combination of Belgium, Dutch and US army and Dutch and Belgian civilians who are specialized in logistics.
The reason is that Antwerp and Rotterdam are the two biggest harbors in Europe and consist of the best logistics due to their infrastructure is very complicated but super efficient. We are the gate to Germany and Europe!
Right, good point about logistics.
@ without logistics wars are lost, Napoleon, Hitler are the prime examples.
15:52 thats not true, NATRES has been deployed abroad in the past
Ukraine and the Netherlands now have created atleast 1 factory for drones in the Netherlands.
Very solid post 👍🏼, as a Dutchie there were lots of things I did not know about. Especially the enormous amount of changes to the navy. Thanks again !
Thank you! I knew they had some naval projects going on but yes, I was also surprised how comprehensive they were.
honestly pretty good for an ai voiced video, usually they are complete slop but this is well researched
Excellent video. I've joined and will follow your channel!
Thank you for your kind words and for subscribing. Cheers!
The new airdefence systems are 21 Nasams and 18 Nomads
up that CV90 number to 300 and you have a scary force.
They operated 196 CV90s and 100 Leopard 2A6 in 2010. The Ministry of Defence thought the CV-90 could take on all the roles of the Leopard plus more and sold them with the 50 PRTL's and 24 m270's
Very good 👍 Thanks.
Greets from Grun' 🇳🇱, TW.
Thank you. Cheers!
Minor detail on 7:19, one of these battalions is a ranger battalion.
Great video, pretty accurate and complete except that you didn’t mention the establisment of the 12th Ranger Batallion as part of the 11th Air Mobile Brigade.
Do not forget ABC caraibian countries and municipalities like aruba, curaçao, st martin, saba, bonaire and st eustatius its a bit bigger and strategic interesting country...
Yes, I could only mention them briefly but the Dutch Caribbean is interesting too.
i wish we also built scale-able ammo muntions factories
something tells me that will happen soon enough. with america going crazy, we cannot depend on them. particularly perhaps a good thing....
It is already being done on European scale. French and German companies already received support to scale up production
Rheinmetall will make this year already 700.000 155 mm ammo. Next year they hope it wil be 1 million and they are building three new factories. America is way behind 155 mm munations.
At one point, recently, the Dutch military was so underfunded that during exercises they had to yell "Pew pew pew" because bullets were just too expensive
that's been the case since all the way back in the late 90s, my dad was a volunteer in the royal netherlands army as a paratrooper and later became a commando, during basic training they occasionally had to yell "peng peng peng!" which is, well a bit odd but i suppose it works?
Thank God that we finally wil spend more money on defence.
Really great Video! I did not know your channel before, but youve got a new subscriber :)
p.s.: I found your rate of speaking a bit slow, but no problem with youtube (x1,15 Speed fits best for me)
Greatings from the Netherlands
we also got the DSI, a combination of army and police, used in all sorts of issues, from disturbed people to terrorism. Very unique
There are more Marines in DSI then Amy
@T40Xdav could be, i should say military instead of army i realise.
@ yes. ‘Army’ is only the land force (Koninklijke Landmacht). DSI is made up of Police and military members (Marines, Army and Marechaussee - don’t think that have Navy (fleet) and Air Force)
@T40Xdav i got lost in translation lol
Fantastic video
Probably the most important role of the Netherlands during the Cold War and again in the current era of escalating tension is that of pre-eminent logistic and transportation hub for NATO on mainland Europe. Large harbour for equipment disembarcation coupled with strong West to East transportation infrastructure such as railway, highway, and fuel pipelines.This is where re-inforcing NATO presence in Europe starts.
The Dutch defense should spend a lot more to be an opponent to reckon with
Great video!
Thanks!
About the natres. They are allound to serve a broad. For security and supporting tasks. But you get ask to volunteer to go abroad. They can not force you.
Thanks for clarifying that.
the main component of the danish armed forces is the national guard (hjemmeværnet), which wastly outnumbers the standing army. A cheap and efficient way of protecting the homeland. other countries, please take notice of this!
We have the same, called heimevernet
Hi, sorry to say u forgot the fact that we are one of the few nato members with counter UAS unit operational under DGLC.
Nice video, thanks! I subscribed to your channel. This video is a bit long though. I like the thoroughness, but I would also like a bit shorter videos. But maybe that's not your aim/goal?
Well done. Very informative.
Amazing video! Do you know where the 900 tanks went? Were they scrapped or sold?
Thank you!
That's a story in itself. At the end of the Cold War and the disbandment of many military units throughout Europe, the older Leopard 1's (about half the 900+) were quickly sold or donated. The Dutch had initially planned to keep the Leopard 2's (the other half) as several tank battalions post-Cold War but through the years they kept reducing those units and reselling the Leo 2's to other countries, mostly to other European countries and some to Canada -- until by 2011, they had none.
The 18 tanks the Dutch have leased from the Germans since 2015 were actually the last ones the Dutch had formerly owned and sold back to Germany, which then upgraded them and leased them to the Dutch.
Leopard 1s were donated to Greece and sold to Chile, and some were scrapped or repurposed, e.g. as targets. Leopard 2s were sold to Austria, Finland and Norway. Funny detail: Austria (not a NATO ally) didn't demand any quality standards, so it received the tanks that were in the worst condition.
@@apertamono Wow! I did not know that! Thank you so much.
We may be small, but very well maintained.
they recently ordered additional F-35's
Dutch are used with joint missions, chief NATO Rutte is on a joint mission.
Rutte is a weasel that shouldn't be trusted.
@@dutchsailor6620
Spotted the FvD-troll.
@@dutchsailor6620 gelukkig is hij hier opgerut :)
Great vid.
Thanks!
Greetings from the Netherlands!
Hello too!
I wonder who initiated and financed this promotion for the Dutch armed forces and who it's aimed at.
Yes, it is informative , well made and even, as far as I can tell true... but as currently the only content on this channel during times in which there is a lot of upheaval about this subject I am suspicious...
Rightly so.
Well done. I think you are a bit flattering, but still, good content. The challenge now is to divide up the little we have between ourselves, our partners Germany, UK and of course, especially Ukraine.
Thanks and yes, it isn't big but it's modern and has a lot to do with alliances and partnerships.
Very nice trainset !😀
I gotta wonder, with the odd intonation and emphasis on words (as if the reader has no idea what words come next or when a sentence ends): are these videos voiced by text-to-speech?
100% ai voice
The Netherlands has 42K soldiers. That is not so many. Of course that is not the point. The Netherlands is a nuclear power with about 250 nuclear missiles, capable of reaching any country, even China. The Americans have about 30 in the Netherlands.
Really ? This is your first and only video ?
Come on, make mooooore.
I liked the taste of this one, so I'm hungry for more.
Do Belgium next.
Or expand on the Dutch - UK collaberation.
And @all: watch Big Mac's Battle Blog, or Brandon Mitchel. They're awesome.
Indeed, it is. Working on more haha. Thanks!
The Netherlands is both One of the founders of EU and NATO
As one who tried to get into the Dutch military, i can say with certainty there is a lack of sophisticated selection process.
There is a strong bias to certain groups of people (non race/sex) and when showing they made an error in process they will ignore you.
They boast Integrity but they lack it aswel as owning up to their errors.
5:14 that's incorrect. Dutch forces where deployed in afganistan from 2002 until 2021 and there are still some Dutch officers in support roles deployed in Afganistan.
0 dutch in afghan now and the major combat operation ended then yes, We went back for a police/training mission but it wasn't a combat operation anymore
18:30 the Netherlands stores the largest stockpile of B61 nuclear gravity bombs in Europe…as with respect to its nuclear role in the US/Nato nuclear triad
Volkel airbase is cleared for a maximum of 15 B61 nuclear weapons. This is the maximum number of warheads the storage vaults at the airbase can hold. So 15 max and the actual number of weapons that is stored is classified but is likely less. This is the same number of weapons that are stored in Belgium and Germany. Italy and Turkey are cleared for 20 warheads each so these two countries potentially have more warheads in their bases vaults then the Netherlands. This is the latest information from the Federation of American Scientists from december 2023. Everything is highly classified so things might have changed but your statement that ''the Netherlands stores the largest stockpile of B61 nuclear gravity bombs in Europe'' is nonsence.
@ thx for sharing…(my exaggeration was not only ignorance…also trying to make a point ;)
Ex-PM Lubbers once claimed there were 22 B61's in Volkel AB. Asked for a reaction, a RNLAF spokesman said these ""are never spoken of". www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-22840880
Note that the new Submarines were signed, but are not allowed tomahawk missles because Washington doesnt trust the french not to steal their design. They may be added afterwards.
i think we need to forget about america, now that they went full cult....
It's where the Dutch partners are for. The French aren't building them alone.
@donenzonen yes, i think we provide i.e. the best naval rafar systems.
We maken ons hier niet druk, geen gezeik met andere landen dus :) wel trots op ons leger en de dames en heren die serven Salute
those new landing class ships the 6 that replace 2 diffirent types will be heavely armed.
Right now, looks like self-defense weapons only. Transport plus counter-drugs/Caribbean patrols.
to be able to scale up significantly, i would think bringing back conscription is the most logical step. that could easily produce a100.000 reserve personnel in a couple of years. Spain has another good trick, i think, to get more soldiers: south americans who join the spanish army get a spanish passport after a couple of years of service. they have of course the great advantage of the common language.....difficult for the dutch to find people wiith the same language...
You could offer Dutch courses in training. Kinda like the French foreign legion
Conscription?!
Please NO!
90% of our populace cries when they have to walk a mile in the rain, or when they have to get out of bed early or are expected to finish their responsibilities before resting.
Not to mention the woke mindvirus that will spill into one of the final places relatively clean of that nonsense.
Capabel Defense, great joke your majesty
7:17the boxer was not designed as a combat vehicle 11:50 the Fennek is severely outdated and not suitable as a combat vehicle, but is suitable as a reconnaissance vehicle or launch platform for anti-tank weapons.

Unbelievable that the Netherlands had 1000 tanks and 300 fighter jets late 1980s. Defence has to be considered as having an insurance. Ukraine has shown us that we could almost spare no weapons or ordnance.
Back then the NATO was much smaller and the Russians where much closer but i agree that it's stil unbelieveble that the goverment made such terrible choises...
My grandfather worked on the leopard 1s and we olso have m109 paladins thed can be put back in working condition in a short time but fore now ar just fore training transporting tanks via truck
The airforce is OK, the navy is OK-ish, the land army is still ridiculously small. Professional soldiers are so expensive to keep on payroll that few EU country can afford more than a few thousand.
Seeing that a Soviet-type army can field hundreds of thousands, there is no other way than training up a sizeable reservist force, even if it seems like a huge waste of time for young men (and possibly women).
Also, let's not forget about the ammo - while the number of F-35s or helicopters seem nice, the whole army is defunct if it runs out of ammo in 2 weeks of fighting. Or food. Or fuel. Logistics is an invisible, but vital part of the army, something the government can't go boasting about, so probably getting underfunded.
Possibly? Im not going if they arent. Its equality time. They voted for it. If they dont want to fight then they can cook and clean stuff and repair broken equipment, but I say theyre going, same as the men. Im not going to risk my life for them without any effort from their part, with how theyve been treating men in this country over the past decades.
Airforce OK?! We offer top-class airpower when ranked on a global scale!
we love you nederland
When the Dutch retire De Zeven Provinciën class, you reckon Belgium might be able to buy one off them or would they be utterly obsolete by then?
Half of our forces quit when they heard they were about to go on a mission, the other half quit afterwards when they came home by freight plane because the government thought an passenger plane was to expensive and it was corona time so straight to quarantine
Marine en luchtmacht tegenwoordig op volle oorlogssterkte houden is voor ons voldoende .Landleger moet voor ondersteuning samenwerken met Duitsland.
Its always nice to know that the enemy knows EXACTLY how much we have of everything.
Nice that my country is such an open book, that saves our future enemy a whole lot of research...
Just mark them off as you go..
Splendid.. thankfully we're in NATO, cause militairy wise we've not surpassed 1940's 'bicycle warfar 101'
please make a video about the Turkish army
2:34, you forgot the islands of; Saba and St. Eustatius.
The Dutch Royal Navy I hold in high regard the rest has become a joke. At the end of the 80s we had almost 1000 leopard tanks. In 2024.. a few borrowed tanks from Germany.
And judging from the number of open jobs nobody is interested in fighting careers anymore.
on the other hand, we saved Billions and billions in costs of unused materials. which makes us quite rich. so now we can basically buy whatever we want.
@@CyberBeep_kenshi Maybe we should focus on "simple" matters like compensation for the child benefits affair in The Netherlands. Because if we are not able to solve small matters how can we be trusted with big matters?
The 'old army' was made for 'old style wars'. Big numbers needed to oppose huge invading forces. Currently, the Dutch Army is very capable of doing specialised tasks, together with allies. This army suits the current, and very changed situation.
@@UnusSedLeo-w5l lol tell that to the russians and chicoms...
@@UnusSedLeo-w5l Steadfast Defender 2024 was the biggest NATO exercise since the Cold War. The whole doctrine switch from GWOT back to Cold War started happening since 2022. We're buying tanks, bringing SPGs out of storage, acquiring rocket artillery and increasing readiness levels. These are not signs of a focus on specialized tasks but a clear doctrine shift back to large-scale high intensity conflicts. Ukraine just showed these wars are not relics of history. I'm not saying I believe Russia will invade a NATO state, but not being ready for war has hurt us in the past and can always do so again. I'm assuming with specialized tasks you're talking about our minesweeper focus and SOF from submarines or just our general focus on training for assymetric threats, and some of these can/will still fit well into the new bigger picture.
I don't really see what we need tanks for, I think increased specialisation of national armies while integrating them on a European level is the way forward. We use German tanks, they use our sensors and marine expertise.
I am from the Netherlands and a proud that we as a small nation work closely with our neighbors and not the US for me personally it’s become clear that the us wants a radical religious Christian dictatorship under Trump, I would have some hope for a Harris administration but….. the world is better of with out a Christian,putting loving pathetic blode us president who’s only interest is not to get convinced. I applaud Europe for following the current events and in doing so supporting Ukraine more importantly strengthening the EU defenses!
Let me be clear the current events shows us that the accords made for the un after WW2 have failed, especially concerning the security council witch includes us Russia and china, if one suggest one thin the rest will veto this and as such it needs to be restructured and all tree need to be kicked out of it and replaced by a temporary council with a government who has been elected by the people in a free election ( and I don’t care if it’s left, right or trough the middle, the voters decide)
The current events shows the world that it is time for a new un character with out the us, Russia or china leading the Assembly of the free world
NUTS
im dutch and i knew none of this
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18TH GDP, and 13TH GDP per capita
There is still shortage of ammunition.
or that's what they want the adversaries to think to be true
Nah the soldiers can just yell "bang bang" when training 😂
@@UndercoverPirate69I can assure you it's not.
No, there is definitely a shortage of ammunition, both actual and exercize.@@UndercoverPirate69
wanna take our land, go ahead,, bring boats and waterproof clothing ;)
as far as i know there are several problems with the new subs firing tomahawks. There is no permission of the USA to implement the systems needed to fire the tomahawk from the new french subs causing major upset on top of an already controversial path to buy french instead of building dutch systems or buy german.
The Dutch are no longer capable of building subs (that company went backrupt in the 90's). You mean a Swedish sub (the name Damen was only there for the illusion of the sub being Dutch).
the dutch are more then capable of building subs, it would require some industry upgrades but knowhow (and knowledge) are available.
We currently don't have any tanks though, we lease them from Germany
We need a massive drone army and huge stockpile longrange missile stuff . Like Russia if all tanks are gone they still can shoot missiles for years..
We are investing in drone tech. Recently a factory was opened in the Netherlands as a joint effort with Ukraine
did you forget the Commando`s? our green berets
fun fact the netherland has retired the f16 about 1 to 2 months ago
Great video and true the Dutch armed forces get new, good material with two exceptions that are bad decisions. First to buy the new subs in France by Naval in stead of buying the proposal of SAAB-Damen. That French design is the same design that Australia rejected after many problems and choosed for U.S. build nucleair subs.
Buying the iveco Manticore what is a real bad vehicle, is the other bad decision. Our Belgian brothers in Arms have also iveco's and they have only tchnical problems with them. The German build Dingo was a better option.
Last but not least the Dutch armed forces should be asap get rid of the VW Amarok wich is a nice vehicle but not for armed forces. Maybe at an military airport or a naval base but not for the Army.
The dutch cold war army was carzy big how did that even fit in the country
Lots of barracks in all the cities, even the small ones. Most of those are now closed or converted to office space, schools, housing for refugees, etc.
And there was a lot of US personnel stationed in the Netherlands as well!
For example the USAF, 32 Tactical Fighter Squadron ‘Wolfhounds’ at airport Soesterberg.
Tank exercises were done a lot in Germany, more space!
i guess "compact but capable" is one way to say the koninklijke landmacht went from over nearly 900 tanks and 2000 IFVs to barely 124 IFVs in 10 years.
Thanks to the leftist government :)