Dutch Defence Minister, Ruben Brekelmans (left), discusses the new joint drone action plan during visits to Kyiv and Kharkiv as Dutch Defence Minister. Credit: Netherlands Ministry of Defence.

The Netherlands have doubled down on their support for Ukraine with a new ‘drone action plan’ amidst their new Defence Minister’s latest visit to Kyiv and Kharkiv this week.

Ruben Brekelmans, having joined the cabinet less than a week ago, replacing Mark Rutte, who has succeeded Jens Stoltenberg as Nato General Secretary, announced plans to implement a new drone action plan.

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The Western European donor, which has only just delivered 24 of its F-16 Fighting Falcon jets to the Ukrianian Air Force, will mobilise €400m ($439m) for the production of advanced uncrewed aerial systems (UAS).

Almost half of the work will take place in the Netherlands, the Dutch government confirmed in a statement on 6 October 2024.

“This concerns all kinds of advanced drones that can be used for reconnaissance, defence and attack. Particularly in the air, but also on land and at sea,” stated Brekelmans.

Drone warfare in Ukraine

Ukraine has demonstrated a remarkable capacity to manufacture drones, particularly first-person-view (FPV) variants, which are guided by a user wearing a virtual reality headset, determined GlobalData Defence Analyst, James Marques, in a briefing in March.

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Such munitions are used to devastating effect in frontline combat, often compensating for Ukraine’s near-constant shortfall in conventional artillery ammunition.

From January to February 2024, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Strategic Industries claimed that FPV production totalled a staggering 200,000 units.

GlobalData estimates that the global military UAS market will expand from a value of $11bn in 2023 to $18bn in 2033, registering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.10%.

However, the global drone market was worth $15.2bn in 2020 and will reach $90bn by 2030, with the strongest growth coming from commercial drones, which will record a CAGR of 32.6% between 2020 and 2030, rising from $3.4bn in 2020 to $57bn in 2030.

Brekelmans noted the experiences gained in Ukraine are also of added value to the high-quality technology in the Netherlands:

“If Dutch knowledge and technology are combined with Ukrainian experiences on the battlefield, this will lead to innovative and effective drones. These can really make a difference on the rapidly changing battlefield.”

Fostering Ukraine’s defence industry activity

“In the conditions of war, Ukrainians have managed to build a de facto new defence industry,” Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on 1 October.

The President added that in the first half of this year alone, Ukraine produced 25 times more artillery and mortar ammunition than in the entirety of 2022.

This expansion is largely down to Western support, with Lithuania recently announcing its intention to allocate €10m toward Ukraine’s new long range weapon, the ‘Paliantsyia’, and additional support for the co-production of maritime drones.