{"id":14860,"date":"2026-05-21T13:49:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/14860\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T13:49:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:49:04","slug":"netherlands-eyes-more-jassm-weapons-for-f-35-discloses-asw-frigate-delivery-delay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/14860\/","title":{"rendered":"Netherlands eyes more JASSM weapons for F-35, discloses ASW frigate delivery delay"},"content":{"rendered":"

BELFAST \u2014 The Netherlands has opened talks with the US government to acquire more AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range (JASSM-ER<\/a>) weapons for its fleet of F-35 fifth-generation fighter jets, according to a national defense projects<\/a> document.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ministry of Defense is procuring additional Deep Precision Strike munitions to replenish operational stocks,\u201d the report said, released on Wednesday. \u201cDiscussions with the U.S. government regarding the procurement of these munitions have now begun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program update noted that a Letter of Acceptance has also been signed, allowing \u201cnecessary software\u201d to enable deployment of the Lockheed Martin-made missile.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A quantity of weapons, valued at $2.6 million per unit, covering the additional order was not disclosed, but the move to launch talks comes after The Hague and Washington signed a 2024 Letter of Offer and Acceptance<\/a> to initially acquire the deep strike capability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the acquisition of this high-tech capability, the [Dutch] Ministry of Defense is helping to fill an important capability gap within NATO in Europe,\u201d added the defense projects overview.<\/p>\n

The Netherlands is committed to acquiring a fleet of 57 F-35A<\/a> conventional takeoff and landing combat aircraft and was the first European country to move the fighter into a dual capable role after taking on NATO\u2019s nuclear mission in 2024. Other European JASSM customers include Finland, Germany and Poland. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Deliveries to international buyers could, however, be adversely affected by the high expenditure rate of US forces involved in Operation Epic Fury against Iran.<\/p>\n

In April, the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank estimated that over 1100 JASSM units<\/a> had been expended as part of that effort. It also stated that JASSM deliveries take four years from contract signing. <\/p>\n

The military projects document also reveals a three-year delay in the delivery of the Dutch navy\u2019s first Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) frigate, owing to \u201ctechnical complexity of the design.\u201d The hold up means that delivery has slipped to 2033.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2023, the Netherlands contracted local shipbuilder Damen<\/a> and French partner Thales to design and produce two of the new vessels, alongside two for Belgium. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe original ship design proved to be unstable,\u201d reads the project\u2019s document. An adjustment to the ship design was necessary to correct this and to meet the previously established requirements regarding flexibility in terms of space and weight for, among other things, the integration of future systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

It added that, to address potential \u201cnext steps,\u201d the Dutch MoD is in \u201cclose contact\u201d with Damen and the Belgian government. The ministry also plans on informing lawmakers about \u201cprocurement preparations\u201d for additional ASW frigates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the first time, the defense projects document also includes a land program based around the acquisition of combat unmanned ground vehicles (CUGS) to support the deployment of LEOPARD 2 A8 main battle tanks. The effort has been \u201cscaled up\u201d and its budget \u201cincreased,\u201d according to the update. Figures show an overall program value ranging from \u20ac50 million ($58 million) to \u20ac250 million.<\/p>\n

Procurement activity is not expanded on besides the closing of a \u201cframework contract with a Dutch contractor\u201d that covers \u201cCUGS for anti-armor operations and reconnaissance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BELFAST \u2014 The Netherlands has opened talks with the US government to acquire more AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5773,1543,18,538,737,12239,12240,9486,1098,6,5551],"class_list":["post-14860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-netherlands","tag-air-force","tag-damen","tag-europe","tag-global","tag-iran","tag-jassm-er","tag-leopard-2","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-nato","tag-netherlands","tag-thales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}