The Netherlands is building 180 armored personnel carriers for Ukraine

The Netherlands, together with Sweden and Denmark, will build infantry fighting vehicles for Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense announced. Some 180 of the 230 CV90 armored combat vehicles will be manufactured in the Netherlands, according to a spokesperson.

The Netherlands will contribute 400 million euros to their construction. The ministry said it is equivalent to "several dozen" armored vehicles. The amount of money Denmark and Sweden will contribute was not disclosed.

Caretaker Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren expects that the Netherlands can complete the construction of the CV90s "fairly quickly." She said it concerns "existing activities of an existing important Dutch company that will do this."

In addition to the construction of the combat vehicles, the ministry presented a series of plans on Friday to scale up the production of military equipment. For example, with the help of the Netherlands, missiles are being made in Germany for Patriot air defense systems. The Dutch military is also investing 54 million euros in the development of drones for its own use.

“Our own drone ecosystem,” Ollongren envisions. "We see, of course, in the war in Ukraine how important drones have become." This not only concerns unmanned aircraft, but also systems on land or in water.

In a new Security Fund, the Ministries of Defense and Economic Affairs are jointly investing 25 million euros for startups in the defense sector. Ollongren stated, "That is really for the companies just starting up, which see a defense application for the product they are working on." This may concern weapon systems, but also products in the "cyber sphere."

According to the Defense Ministry, the investments are necessary due to the deteriorating security situation in Europe after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. "We must work towards an armed force that will be combat-ready within five years," said Ollongren. "We must do this in collaboration with industry and knowledge institutes."

Ollongren would not comment about the idea of a wartime economy. "We are somewhere in a gray area between a peace situation and a war situation. We do not want a large-scale conflict, but we have to be prepared."