Ministry of Defense issues EU tender to find smart ways to take down enemy drones
The Netherlands Ministry of Defense has launched a new initiative to identify and neutralize drones, including in hostile territory, and has opened the effort to all European Union companies, the ministry reported.
The Counter Strikedrone Challenge invites firms with viable solutions to submit proposals. Defense officials said the program is designed to identify technologies that can be deployed rapidly. The ministry emphasized that the focus is on solutions that can be deployed in real-world scenarios, rather than theoretical concepts.
“The challenge is aimed at neutralizing an enemy drone as quickly as possible, even over hostile areas,” a Ministry of Defense spokesperson said. “This is not about waiting for a drone to enter friendly territory.”
Companies with successful proposals could enter long-term partnerships with the ministry to further develop and implement these solutions.
As part of the initiative, the Materiel and IT Command (COMMIT), acting on behalf of the Netherlands Armed Forces, is conducting a market consultation to gather information for a potential tender for a man-portable counter-drone net gun.
Before submitting proposals, companies may draw lessons from earlier efforts to counter drones. In 2017, Dutch police spent a year attempting to train birds of prey to intercept drones. The initiative was the first of its kind globally, but it ultimately failed because the birds were expensive to train, often did not follow commands, and the demand for drone-intercepting eagles was limited. Police concluded that the birds would likely underperform outside controlled training environments.
The 2025 program is organized in cooperation with Defport, a public-private platform that brings together the ministries of Defense and Economic Affairs, financial institutions, and knowledge institutes. Defport facilitates the development and financing of innovative defense products.
