Netherlands joins US for drone wingmen development

WASHINGTON — The US and the Netherlands signed a pact today for the European nation to participate in the development of the US Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft program.

The two parties’ letter of intent was inked by Netherlands State Secretary for Defense Gijs Tuinman at the Netherlands embassy in Washington, paving the way for a transatlantic exchange of autonomous drone wingmen technologies.

“We’re really grateful and [have] been working hard with our US partners and the US Air Force to actually get into the CCA program. So for us, that’s a big thing,” Tuinman told reporters at the Dutch embassy following the announcement. “And I think it also makes the world a lot safer if in the near future, we can actually also operate CCA type of aircraft in the European theater.”

As a result of the new partnership, Tuinman said that the Netherlands has now unlocked “total access” into the US Air Force’s CCA program “on all levels,” enabling Dutch officials to input their own requirements unique to the European theater. Pointing to an expected pairing of two drone wingmen with a fighter, Tuinman said there could be a need for over a 1,000 CCA in the near future — a boon to US industry and European partners alike.

Acknowledging the desire by American firms to seek customers in Europe, where a continental push for greater defense spending also comes with an emphasis on indigenous tech, Tuinman said the new partnership could serve as a pathway to sales for US companies. 

“I also want to express that the Netherlands is like the jumping pad for the United States to get into Europe,” he said. 

A US Air Force official told Breaking Defense in a statement that the new drone collaboration “builds on decades of U.S.–Dutch defense cooperation and reflects a shared commitment to fielding next-generation airpower.” Under the program “both nations will explore opportunities to jointly develop, test, and evaluate CCA technologies, mission systems, and employment concepts that strengthen interoperability across allied air forces,” added the official.

The first round of the Air Force’s CCA program is well underway, and officials have chiefly discussed its next iteration, or “increment,” as the primary opportunity for foreign buyers. An Air Force official told reporters in September that international partnerships may even result in separate use cases in the second increment that drive different designs for the US and a foreign partner.

Nevertheless, the Dutch press release announcing the partnership includes photos of drone prototypes developed by Anduril and General Atomics for the CCA program’s first increment. Whether the Netherlands may seek to buy exported versions of those unmanned aircraft developed by the US as a result of the new partnership is unknown. 

Other countries, like Australia and Japan, have likewise announced cooperation with the US on drone wingman development, but it’s unclear what other nations have the same “total access” to the CCA program like the Netherlands now enjoys.

Alongside the announcement with the US, the Netherlands unveiled a separate letter of intent with the American firm General Atomics, which the company said in a press release will initially focus on developing small drones that can provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. The agreement includes collaboration between General Atomics and the Dutch to “establish UAS [unmanned aerial system] manufacturing capability,” the release says, where the American firm has tapped Dutch company VDL Defentec for producing the small drones.

Tuinman said the agreement with General Atomics would help boost production between the US and Europe, especially by leveraging Dutch “production ecosystems” that can quickly scale up manufacturing. The minister then said a key need driving the partnership is for drones that are in “intermediate layers” that can penetrate air defense bubbles and provide both surveillance and strike capabilities. The Dutch press release announcing the partnership on the CCA program says the drones developed separately with General Atomics should be able to enter service by next year.

Russian forces of late have been using their own drones to violate NATO airspace, which some European officials have accused as a deliberate act of provocation that also prompts questions about the collective defense of the alliance.

Tuinman said the Russian drone incursions were an attempt to divide the alliance, but stressed they would not be successful, pointing to shared sacrifices like a cemetery for American soldiers who died fighting in World War II near where he grew up.

“So that’s in my memory,” he said, adding that “our futures are intertwined and connected, and nobody can drive a wedge between those.”