Dutch say ASW frigate talks ongoing amid reports Belgium may quit project

PARIS — The Netherlands said discussions with Belgium are ongoing about a delayed joint project to develop anti-submarine warfare frigates, amid reports the Belgian government is looking for a way out and is shopping for a European alternative that can replace its two aging existing frigates sooner.

Belgium must have replacements on time, according to the country’s Chief of Defence Gen. Frederik Vansina, Dutch news agency ANP reported on Wednesday. Vansina told ANP that Belgium does not want to dictate terms to the Netherlands, but cannot afford to be left without major naval vessels, with its frigates Leopold I and Louise-Marie at the end of their usable lives in 2030.

The frigate project led by Dutch shipbuilder Damen has been plagued by delays, many related to its design, which increased in size over time and had to be corrected due to structural stability issues. From an original expectation that the first vessel might enter service around 2025, the Dutch Ministry of Defense now expects the first new anti-submarine frigate to be delivered no earlier than 2033.

Belgium is looking whether, for example, Italian-built frigates could be delivered more quickly, and is in talks with the Netherlands about interim solutions, such as Damen delivering a small frigate as a temporary stop-gap measure, ANP reported, citing Vansina. The general said the fact that Belgium has approached other frigate builders “is not abnormal and certainly not unfriendly.”

“It’s paramount for Belgium to maintain that operational capability,” Vansina told ANP. “The only naval firepower we have are those frigates.”

The Belgian Navy’s two frigates are former Dutch Karel Doorman-class frigates that were laid down and launched in the 1980s, with Belgium buying them second-hand from the Netherlands in 2005.

Dutch State Secretary for Defense Derk Boswijk discussed the frigate project and the importance of the countries’ bilateral maritime cooperation with his Belgian colleague earlier this week, he told parliament in a letter on Wednesday, responding to questions about reports of Belgium considering Italy’s FREMM EVO over the future frigates being developed by Damen.

Boswijk and Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken met in Brussels on Sept 28, and both posted on social media they had a “good and constructive discussion,” with Boswijk saying the two talked about the progress of various dossiers .

“Given the commercially confidential nature of this process, we agreed not to comment on media reports regarding our cooperation,” Boswijk told parliament.

An internal analysis by the Belgian Navy identified Fincantieri’s FREMM EVO frigate as the best alternative, with the Italian builder able to deliver the first vessel in 2030 and the cost remaining within Belgium’s budget of €3.2 billion ($3.6 billion) for three vessels, the news website of public broadcaster VRT reported last week , citing the internal document.

Naval Group’s FDI frigate is also considered a good option, but the 2030 delivery deadline is uncertain as the yard is already booked with orders from France, Greece and Sweden, according to VRT NWS.

The Dutch MoD said in its 2026 materiel project plan that delivery of the first new ASW frigate has been pushed back to 2033 from 2030 as the original ship design had to be fixed.

The project-goal letter in 2018 had envisaged a first frigate to be operational around 2025, with the Ministry of Defense saying at the time it would request offers from Damen and Thales Nederland without a competitive tender. In a Dutch-Belgian memorandum of understanding later that same year, the countries agreed that Belgium would receive its vessels in 2030 at the latest.

Following discussions with Damen as the intended shipbuilder and Thales for the radar and fire control system, the MoD told parliament in 2020 that a detailed design phase of about two years would be necessary before the start of construction, with the first frigate expected to be delivered in 2027 and operational the next year.

In the 2023 procurement proposal letter, the MoD expected physical construction to start in 2025, while expected delivery had been pushed back by a year. The procurement proposal also touted the possibility of cooperating with Germany around the F126 frigates to be built by Damen, a project that has since been scrapped following years of delays and cost overruns.

Under the original plan the Netherlands was to order two frigates for its Navy and two more on behalf of the Belgian Navy. The Dutch said in 2024 they would double their order to four, while Belgium announced in 2025 the country would increase its order to three.

In the 2023 letter to parliament, the ministry said the budget for two Dutch frigates had increased to €1.88 billion, a number that was revised upwards again to €1.96 billion in early 2024.

The size of the proposed frigate has crept up over time, from a plan in mid-2020 for a ship displacing 5,500 tons to a definitive design of around 6,400 tons, and compared to about 3,300 tons for the existing M-frigate class that the new vessels are set to replace.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——荷兰表示，双方正在就一项推迟的联合开发反潜护卫舰的项目进行讨论。此前有报道称，比利时政府正在寻求退出该项目的途径，并正在寻找能够更快地取代其两艘老旧现有护卫舰的欧洲替代方案。

据荷兰通讯社ANP周三报道，比利时国防部长弗雷德里克·范西纳将军表示，比利时必须按时获得替代舰艇。范西纳告诉ANP，比利时不想对荷兰发号施令，但不能承受失去主力舰艇的后果，因为比利时的“利奥波德一世”号和“路易丝-玛丽”号护卫舰将于2030年达到使用寿命终点。

由荷兰达门造船厂主导的护卫舰项目一直饱受延误之苦，其中许多延误都与设计有关。随着时间的推移，舰体尺寸不断增大，并且由于结构稳定性问题不得不进行修正。荷兰国防部最初预计首舰将于2025年左右服役，但现在预计首艘新型反潜护卫舰最早也要到2033年才能交付。

据比利时通讯社ANP报道，比利时正在考虑能否加快交付意大利制造的护卫舰，并与荷兰商讨过渡方案，例如由达门造船厂交付一艘小型护卫舰作为临时措施。比利时海军将领范西纳表示，比利时与其他护卫舰制造商接触“并不反常，也绝非不友好”。

“对比利时来说，保持这种作战能力至关重要，”范西纳告诉ANP通讯社。“我们唯一的海军火力就是这些护卫舰。”

比利时海军的两艘护卫舰原为荷兰卡雷尔·多尔曼级护卫舰，于 20 世纪 80 年代开工建造并下水，比利时于 2005 年从荷兰购买了这两艘二手护卫舰。

荷兰国防国务秘书德克·博斯维克本周早些时候与比利时同行讨论了护卫舰项目以及两国双边海上合作的重要性。他在周三致议会的一封信中回应了有关比利时考虑采用意大利的FREMM EVO护卫舰而不是达门公司正在开发的未来护卫舰的报道。

9月28日，博斯维克和比利时国防部长特奥·弗兰肯在布鲁塞尔会面，两人都在社交媒体上发帖称他们进行了“良好且富有建设性的讨论”。博斯维克表示，两人讨论了各种档案的进展情况。

博斯维克告诉议会：“鉴于此过程具有商业机密性，我们同意不对媒体有关我们合作的报道发表评论。”

据比利时公共广播公司VRT的新闻网站上周报道，比利时海军的一项内部分析认定，意大利芬坎蒂尼造船厂的FREMM EVO护卫舰是最佳选择，这家意大利造船厂能够在2030年交付第一艘舰艇，并且成本仍控制在比利时为三艘舰艇设定的32亿欧元（36亿美元）预算之内。该报道援引了一份内部文件。

据 VRT NWS 报道，法国海军集团的 FDI 护卫舰也被认为是一个不错的选择，但由于船厂已经接到了来自法国、希腊和瑞典的订单，因此 2030 年的交付期限尚不确定。

荷兰国防部在其 2026 年物资项目计划中表示，由于原舰艇设计需要修正，首艘新型反潜护卫舰的交付时间已从 2030 年推迟到 2033 年。

2018年的项目目标函设想首艘护卫舰将于2025年左右投入使用，当时荷兰国防部表示将直接向达门集团和泰雷兹荷兰公司征求报价，而无需进行公开招标。同年晚些时候，荷比两国签署了一份谅解备忘录，同意比利时最迟于2030年接收其舰艇。

在与达门造船厂（拟建造船厂）和泰雷兹公司（雷达和火控系统）进行讨论后，英国国防部于 2020 年向议会表示，在开始建造之前，需要大约两年的详细设计阶段，预计第一艘护卫舰将于 2027 年交付，并在次年投入使用。

在2023年的采购提案函中，英国国防部预计实体建设将于2025年启动，而交付日期则推迟了一年。该采购提案还提及了与德国达门造船厂合作建造F126型护卫舰的可能性，但该项目由于多年的延误和成本超支已被取消。

根据原计划，荷兰将为其海军订购两艘护卫舰，并代表比利时海军再订购两艘。荷兰在2024年表示，将把订单数量增加到四艘，而比利时在2025年宣布，该国将把订单数量增加到三艘。

在 2023 年致议会的信中，该部表示，两艘荷兰护卫舰的预算已增加到 18.8 亿欧元，该数字在 2024 年初再次上调至 19.6 亿欧元。

随着时间的推移，拟建护卫舰的尺寸逐渐增大，从 2020 年年中计划建造的排水量为 5,500 吨的舰艇，到最终设计的排水量约为 6,400 吨，而新舰艇将要取代的现有 M 级护卫舰的排水量约为 3,300 吨。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。