Investigations into drones over Dutch air bases unlikely to reveal motive, Minister says

The drone incidents at Volkel and Eindhoven air bases are raising many questions in parliament. But during a parliamentary debate on Wednesday, caretaker Minister Ruben Brekelmans (Defense, VVD) warned that many of those questions may remain unanswered.

Drones were spotted at Volkel on Friday and Saturday evenings and at Eindhoven on Saturday evening. In all cases, unsuccessful attempts were made to shoot down the drones. Similar incidents have been reported elsewhere in Europe, but this was a first for the Netherlands.

A “worrying development,” Daniël van den Berg (JA21) said about the drone sightings at the Dutch air bases.

“How could this have happened, and what exactly did we see this past weekend?” Fatimazhra Belhirch (D66) wanted to know.

Kati Piri (GroenLinks-PvdA) asked why the purchase of drone control equipment was only now being accelerated.

Brekelmans said Wednesday evening that the investigations into the incidents are still ongoing. But he tried to temper expectations, as similar investigations into drone incidents in Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and Germany have “not yielded a very clear picture,” he said.

The drones did not pose a “huge” immediate threat to the bases, Brekelmans stated. There is no indication they were armed, and even equipped with a camera, the drones “cannot immediately pick up on all sorts of secrets.”

There have been previous acts of sabotage in Europe with links to a Russian organization, including several fires. However, this has not been confirmed with regard to any of the drone incidents in the Netherlands, the minister said. It is “not easy” to determine who is to blame, “especially if you do not have the drone in your hands.”

The Ministry of Defence is accelerating the acquisition of additional capacity to detect and combat drones. This week, the ministry announced it planned to allocate between 1.25 and 3 billion euros for this purpose.