Netherlands Eyes Floating Decoy System for RNLN Frigates

By Richard Scott

The Netherlands Ministry of Defence (MoD) has revealed plans for the fast-track procurement of a military-off-the-shelf (MOTS) floating decoy system to provide enhanced soft-kill protection for Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) frigates.

According to the MoD, the accelerated acquisition is intended to deliver an improved RF distraction capability to offset the limitations of legacy 130-mm anti-ship missile decoys. The new system will equip the RNLN’s De Zeven Provinciën-class air defense and command frigates, and M-class multipurpose frigates.

Justifying the requirement for the new floating decoy system in a letter to parliament, the MoD said it would expand the multi-layered self-defense capabilities of the ships and provide a more effective soft-kill RF countermeasure with greater resilience to seeker discrimination logic. “The supplementary [floating]decoy system enables a significant improvement in the self-defense capabilities of the Royal Netherlands Navy’s current vessels to be achieved in a cost-effective manner,” it added.

A contract award is planned within the current calendar year. The contractor has not been disclosed, but an image in the MoD’s latest Defense Projects Overview document indicates that the MOTS solution will come from UK-based IrvinGQ (Llangeinor, Wales). IrvinGQ provides the Outfit DLF(3b) decoy equipping UK Royal Navy ships and the similar MK 59 Mod 0 floating RF decoy system fitted to a number of US Navy DDG-51 Flight I guided missile destroyers; the company has also sold a proprietary DLF variant, designated FDS3, to the navies of Canada and New Zealand.