From JDW 7 Dec 2005

Tomahawk buy cleared by Dutch parliament
JORIS JANSSEN LOK JDW Correspondent
The Hague

Additional reporting by Richard Scott Jane’s Naval Consultant
London
The Dutch parliament has approved the purchase of 30 Tactical Tomahawk cruise missiles for the Dutch navy The Netherlands would become the third country with Tomahawk after the US and the UK
The Dutch parliament has approved government plans to procure 30 Raytheon Tomahawk Block IV land attack cruise missiles from the US government for the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN).
According to Defence Minister Henk Kamp, the Tomahawk missiles will provide the Netherlands armed forces with the capability of “controlled, limited but effective power projection with minimal collateral damage and minimal risk for friendly personnel”. He said that the weapon, to be installed on two De Zeven Provincien-class LCF air defence and command frigates from 2008 under a EUR57 million (USD67 million) investment project, would provide “excellent support for land operations”.
The ruling coalition parties in the Dutch parliament approved the Tomahawk procurement on 17 November. This was despite opinion polls showing that 75 per cent of the population opposed the acquisition of cruise missiles.
Winning the parliamentary vote for the Tomahawk buy hinged on the backing of Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende’s Christian Democrat party – one of the three coalition parties. This was secured after Kamp obtained an extra EUR105 million of funding to replace two Boeing CH-47D Chinook medium-lift helicopters and a Boeing AH-64D Apache lost during recent operations in Afghanistan.
The Christian Democrats had said that it would agree to the Tomahawk plan on condition that “a full and adequate” solution was found for the replacement of the helicopters.
The two LCF frigates designated by the RNLN to receive Tomahawk will require the retrofit of a strike-length Mk 41 vertical launcher module (space exists for an additional eight-cell system alongside the five tactical-length Mk 41 modules already fitted) and the Tactical Tomahawk Weapon Control System to enable weapons flight planning and control.
The Tomahawk Block IV – otherwise known as Tactical Tomahawk – is entering service to succeed the Block III version currently in USN and RN service. Designed around a lower cost airframe, a new turbojet powerplant and a rationalised guidance and navigation hardware package, the Block IV missile affords longer range and enhanced tactical flexibility through the addition of a two-way UHF satellite communication link.
The US Navy (USN) and the UK Royal Navy (RN) are currently the only navies to use Tomahawk. Spain has also approached the US government about acquiring Tomahawk for its F-100 frigates and new S-80A submarines.