Afghanistan has forced a number of participating countries to upgrade their UAV fleets through purchase or rental, and Dutch forces are no exception. They have bought Aladin and Raven mini UAVs, and a recent announcement indicates that they're about to retire their old, limited Sperwer-A UAVs as of March 1/09.
Instead of buying replacements, they will join the rent-a-UAV trend.
The concept of renting front-line military equipment would have seemed outlandish a very short time ago. Now, UAVs like Boeing's ScanEagle are rented and operated by contractors on the front lines battle, Britain has rented Elbit Systems' mid-size Hermes 450 UAVs for use in Afghanistan. P.W. Singer's recent book Wired for War even discusses examples of human rights groups inquiring about renting or buying U
AVs to monitor key conflict zones. Private surveillance UAVs are already operating along the US-Mexican border, and additional examples around the globe seem to be just a matter of time. The times, they are a' changing.The Dutch have picked Aeronautics Defense System' Aerostar UAV, and that firm has just confirmed the contract ...
The Sperwers have been taken out of service by Canada and Denmark, so their retirement by the Dutch is not a surprise. According to background materials released by the Dut
ch MvD, the MvD had initially identified a need for 2 'air-ground reconnaissance capacities', one at the tactical level for commanders on the ground, and another at the "operational level" for theater command intelligence. At first, both types of UAV requirements were handled and evaluated separately, and were estimated at less than EUR 25 million each.Further investigation led to a Novemver 2008 decision that both requirements could be fulfilled in a single platform, under a EUR 25 - 50 million program, if the high-echelon requirements were relaxed slightly. In truth, finding a system that could meet all of the MvD's needs is not challenging. Finding a solution that would meet most of these needs provide enough UAVs to supply adequate coverage, and fit within the budget was the challenge.
After issuing an international solicitation through the EU's European Defense Agency online marketplace, the Dutch concluded that the Israeli firm Aeronautics Defense System Ltd. in Yavneh, Israel was the only option that could fit their requirments, which include operating and maintaining the UAVs on the Netherlands' behalf. This is considered an urgent operational buy, and the MvD intends to sign a contract by the end of January 2009, so that it can begin deployment in March 2009.
