Navy Recognition:
Belgium is planning to give Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) capabilities to its future frigates. The information was revelead in December 2016 by Dutch online media Marineschepen, a well-connected source on Dutch and Belgian naval defence topics.
Contacted by Navy Recognition in December, a Belgian Navy spokesperson confirmed that the government had such intention, but the decision (to give the future frigates BMD capabilities) would be political. The spokesman pointed to an official document from the Belgian “Chamber of Representatives” from July 2016 in which the BMD topic was mentionned for the first time.
In this report from the Warsaw NATO Summit, on page 6, the document mentions:
Belgium takes its share of the common costs for the Ballistic Missile Defense program. For the future, more attention needs to be focused on this system, which is increasingly seen as the third element of the Alliance’s policy of deterrence and defense.
Within the framework of the 2030 Strategic Vision for Belgian defense, the new frigates will be able to engage ex-atmospheric ballistic missiles and may therefore, as appropriate, also participate to a Ballistic Missile Defense system.
As we reported, Belgium and the Netherlands signed an MoU on December 1st last year to replace their current Frigates with a common, new class of vessel. As Marineschepen stresses however, the Netherlands position on BMD capability is not known yet and the new Frigate project (for which the Netherlands has the lead) is still in early stages of development.
The German Navy announced in December that its three F124 Sachsen-class frigates will be upgraded with a new radar in order to join the NATO BMD system. These vessels would serve as sea-based sensors exclusively however.
In contrast, the Belgium parliamentary document mentions effectors: “the new frigates will be able to engage exo-atmospheric ballistic missiles“. That capability would be unique for a European navy…
