THE HAGUE - A majority in the lower house of the Dutch parliament wants the Ministry of Defense to attach bombs and missiles to its four newest drone aircraft.
The Netherlands recently acquired four MQ-9 Reaper drones intended for surveillance by air. The four brand new, unmanned super drones of the Air Force are not going to the Netherlands for the time being, but will be stationed in Curaçao and deployed immediately in the Caribbean. Here, the system is first extensively tested, and the devices can later come in handy during operations against drug smugglers at sea.
But the Dutch MPs want to arm them, so that "killer drones" are available in case they are needed due to the war in Ukraine.
"The war in Ukraine shows that armed drones can make a difference," VVD parliamentarian Peter Valstar said to the newspaper. "The Ukrainian army has dealt a major blow to the Russian army with the deployment of these drones. I think it's a shame that the Netherlands has these high-quality drones and only uses them for intelligence gathering."
Coalition parties VVD, CDA, and ChristenUnie and opposition parties PVV, JA21, and SGP support the idea of arming the new drones. They'll submit a motion to that effect next week.
The Ministry of Defense is currently looking at the options.
Photo credit: Jasper Verolme