NL may keep Orions a bit longer after all!

Dutch link only:
http://www.omroep.nl/nos/nieuws/index.html#@http://www.omroep.nl/nos/nieuws/binnenland/2003/oktober/201003/valkenburg.html

Translated by me:

2nd Chamber: Keep Valkenburg NAB open longer.
The 2nd chamber (comparable to the House of Commons) wants to postpone the closure of Naval Air Base Valkenburg. Minister (comparable to secretery) of defence mr Kamp has to clarify if a solution has been found for the 10 Orions stationed here.

Kamp wants to get rid of the Orions. That should make some 730 million Euros. The planes have been designed to hunt and kill submarines, but are now used primarily for coastguard duties.

Almost the entire 2nd chamber wants to know why the minister isn’t trying to keep this squadron, as a joint Dutch/Belgian/German squadron.

EU-chairmen
Kamp intends to close the base January 1st, 2004. That’s too soon, the chamber thinks. The two largest government parties (of a coalltion of 3), the CDA and the VVD, want to keep the base for at least one more year. This because next year NL is the chairman of the EU.

They want to use the airfield to fly in dignitaries and diplomats. Curently the airfield is already used by the Queen and by the Yugoslavia tribunal in The Hague. If the airfield is closed, they will have to fly to the civilian airfield of Rotterdam. The additional securtiy measures required will cost roughly 13 million euro.

Naval personal on the airbase are protesting the decission to close the base. They fear many job cuts. Many memebrs of the 2nd chamber feel these men should be given another job, for instance as police officer.

The protestors today waved off an Orion that left bound for the Mediterranean for a peace-keeping operation. Then a delegation went to The Hague to talk to the minister.

Cruise missiles.
During the debate the majority of the CDA and the PvdA where against the plans from mr Kamp to equip 4 frigates with American made Tomahawks. That would set us back 109 million euro, even though the defence department has to cut costs considerably.

Kamp believs NATO has a large shortage of these cruise missiles, and thinks that the Netherlands can play a large role in the world by purchasing such missiles. CDA-defence specialist Kortenhorst says the missiles are merely a “unnecessary luxury in these bad financial times”.

The PvdA thinks these missiles are only effective for large nations that can use it as a political weapon (threat) during times of conflict. He mentioned nations like the US and the UK.

I think this minister is not too bright. He is trying to buy missiles so “the Netherlands can play a larger role on the world”. Makes me wonder why we should want to play a larger role in the world? It’s not as if we are very large or influential or anything!

Getting rid of the Orions seems a very short sighted means of saving money. Sure they are designed for sub-hunting, and not used as such but to say they are useless? They are currently used almost 24/7. Looking for (drugs-) smugglers, environmental controls, peace keeping missions, reconnaisance, looking for ship wrecks and survivors etc.

I can understand getting rid of Valkenburg NAB, and placing the Orions elsewhere (Rotterdam/Woensdrecht/elsewhere).

I know I may upset some Dutch guys by saying this, but I think we can do with less F16s too.