With rockets and grenades

The Dutch Navy has been using the Goalkeeper close-range defence system since the early 1990s. What was state-of-the-art at the time is no longer state of the art today. It is only thanks to a modernisation programme that the systems installed on various ships can still be kept in service. Goalkeeper is a so-called Close-in Weapon System (CIWS), which is used for defence against various airborne threats at close range. These include anti-ship missiles, but also small targets on the surface of the water.
In the meantime, drones have been added to the targets against which a defence was to be set up at the time. The missiles to be defended against have become faster and faster in recent years and the flight profiles more complex. There is also hardly any protection against small and manoeuvrable speedboats.
A new defence system is now intended to close this gap. As the threats to be defended against on the water surface and from the air require very different reactions, a new system is to be based on two types of ammunition. Rolling airframe missiles (RAM) will be used against fast-approaching air targets, while 76-millimetre DART grenades will also be used against smaller targets. Together, these types of munitions should be able to combat the entire spectrum of threats at close range.
The small shells are to be guided into the target using a Pharos radar. A fire control system will coordinate the use of the two types of ammunition. The radar and fire control system will be developed and built by Thales Netherlands. While the Pharos radar is not expected to be available until 2028, the other components are to be delivered as early as 2025. One landing ship (LPD) or joint support ship (JSS) can then be equipped with the new defence system each year. It is planned to deploy the system on the LPDs Rotterdam and Johan de Witt, the JSS Karel Doormann and the submarine hunting frigates that will be commissioned from 2028. Whether the future JSS Den Helder will also be equipped with the weapon system has not yet been decided for budgetary reasons.

Text: mb; Photo: Koninklijke Marine