Netherlands sets out schedule for naval point defence after Goalkeeper

The Dutch government has finalised plans for a successor system to the Goalkeeper CIWS.

‘Now that the investigation has been completed, the purchase contracts need to be settled. They will probably be closed in 2022,’ the MoD announced on 14 January.

The new system will be installed on both Royal Netherlands Navy Rotterdam-class landing platform dock vessels, as well as the joint logistics support ship HNLMS Karel Doorman and the two Anti-Submarine Warfare Frigates  planned to enter service in 2028-2030.

A budget of €100 million to €250 million is required for the new CIWS. 

HNLMS Den Helder — a new combat support ship to be delivered to the RNLN in 2024 — is also expected to feature the new-generation CIWS ‘but is not yet provided with it for budgetary reasons’, the MoD noted.

Defence minister Barbara Visser explained that the Thales-made Goalkeeper is approaching the end of its service life in 2025, despite completion of a modernisation programme in 2018.

The Dutch MoD and defence research organisation TNO assessed the threat to naval vessels from anti-ship missiles, unguided missiles, UAVs and piloted aircraft, as well as highly manoeuvrable attack boats armed with a variety of weapon systems.

They identified two types of ammunition for any successor point defence system to Goalkeeper: the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM), which requires a shipboard launcher; and the DART sub-calibre guided projectile fired from a OTO Melara 76mm gun. 

RAM has minimal shipboard control systems and will be autonomous after launch, whereas DART will be guided to its target by the BEL-Thales Pharos radar. Thales Nederland will make the radar and fire control for both systems.

Most components for the new CIWS will be available from 2025, apart from Pharos which is expected to be installed from 2028. The MoD admitted that the RNLN will only initially have a partial capability but the new system ‘already means a significant improvement over the Goalkeeper’.

About 70 units of the CIWS have been delivered to navies worldwide, according to Shephard Defence Insight.

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