The Royal Netherlands navy 🇳🇱 is buying its first two 'loyal wingman' to disperse firepower in a TG. The vessels are still crewed but weapons are to be controlled from the frigates.
I'm very curious to see how they're going to get the C2 working for this.
https://www.naval-technology.com/new...o-civil-ships/
Dutch Navy looks to fit air defence payload to ‘civil’ ships
The service will procure Multi Functional Support Ships to deploy Standard Missile 2 units as a way to disperse firepower across the fleet.
In line with their plans to disperse air defence capabilities across the fleet to meet a new range of maritime threats, the Royal Netherlands Navy will acquire two home-built “civil supplier type” support ships.
Currently, the government has not determined the specific model of the ships. A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said that the details will be confirmed after the topic has been discussed among the House of Representatives before the end of 2024.
The force refers to these future vessels as Multi Functional Support Ships (MFSS). The government will approach their own supplier base within the Dutch maritime industry. The Netherlands Material and IT command investigates the total market of suppliers who provide containerised payloads.
“The initial goal is to integrate [an] air defence payload in a network with a frigate. Integration in a wider network will be considered” down the line, they added….. [more]