 |
| Minister Sigrid Kaag and PM Mark Rutte at signing bilateral Defense Cooperation Agreement.Source |
During a visit of
the Dutch prime minister to Washington the Netherlands and the United
States reinforced
their
ties
on military affairs on issues like cooperation on operations,
materiel and acquisitions. The US is already the biggest customer of
the Dutch arms industry, followed by EU/NATO+ and Germany.
Cooperation agreements play a large role in this trade connection.
Great global powers
are building all types of arms and complete systems at home. Regional
powers and smaller industrialised countries such as the Netherlands
have limited capacity to build domestically. Typically they produce
subsystems and components. The Netherlands has a strongly developed
policy to negotiate industrial orders in return when acquiring major
weapons abroad. It is part of the Dutch Defence Industrial Strategy
(DIS). In the past this was called offset or compensation policy.
Today it is called industrial participation. The European Commission
(http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-18-357_en.htm)
is objecting this Dutch policy as it
hinders the free EU arms market they pursue.
Although the biggest Dutch
arms export licenses of 2017 are connected to the sale of naval
vessels to Mexico and Pakistan, the eight largest licenses for parts
have a value of € 200 million (see table 1). The description of
almost half of the approximately 1.300 licenses in the Dutch 2017
reports on individual export licenses of military goods start with
the words part or parts. Often
the value of an individual license is not so high, but all licenses
together amount to over a billion euro. Components are a
considerable part of Dutch arms exports. In the annual report it is stated 72 per cent of all Dutch military exports concern components.
Tabel
1: Dutch export licenses for components in 2017 (€ 20 million or
more)
|
||||
date
|
Description
|
Country
of destination
|
Country
of final destination
|
Value
(€)
|
1-9-2017
|
Parts
for diverse aircraft and helicopters
|
EU/NATO+
|
EU/NATO+
|
30.000.000
|
23-3-2017
|
Parts
for military transport aircraft
|
UK
|
UK
|
27.240.000
|
19-5-2017
|
Parts
for transport aircraft
|
TURKEY
|
UK
|
27.240.000
|
18-4-2017
|
Parts
for diverse aircraft and helicopter engines
|
US
|
US
|
27.000.000
|
17-2-2017
|
Parts
for Tiger and NH90 helicopters and A400M freight aircraft
|
EU/NATO+
|
EU/NATO+
|
25.000.000
|
13-6-2017
|
Parts
for air missiles and aircraft.
|
US
|
US
|
22.326.962
|
11-1-2017
|
Parts
for F-16 fighter aircraft and diverse helicopters
|
EU/NATO+
|
EU/NATO+
|
20.000.000
|
21-12-2017
|
Parts
for diverse types fighter aircraft and -helicopters
|
EU/NATO+
|
EU/NATO+
|
20.000.000
|
Total
|
198.806.962
|
|||
Of those licenses,
many are for naval systems produced by Thales Netherlands. In 2017
alone, the list of destinations receiving
Thales radar or command and control equipment includes Algeria,
Argentine, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, Colombia, Egypt,
France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Poland,
Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey,
Turkmenistan, UAE and US. The sales to Egypt were discussed in a
courtroom
in 2016-2017, because Egypt is using naval vessels to blockade Yemen. But according
to the minister of Foreign Affairs Stef Blok during a debate in the Dutch Parliament,
the vessels are not only used for that, but also for the security of the Egyptian State.
There are two major
transparency issues with components. One is that many sales are
reported in an unclear way. Exported parts can be for aircraft and
helicopters, transport planes, engines for helicopters and planes,
tanks, armoured vehicles, for missiles and even for aircraft carrier
tailhooks (see table Dutch
produced arms exports of components/parts (2017).
It is hard to get an real overview. The level of information on the
exports runs from non-information like 'global license', to the the
very general 'parts for aircraft', or 'parts for fighter aircraft'.
Information only makes sense when more specific. 'Parts for aircraft'
could as well be for Eurofighters sold to Saudi Arabia and used to
bomb Yemen. Search radar is something different than radar for fire
control. A small patrol vessels without weapon mountings is another
kind of export than a patrol vessel with automatic guns.
The second issue is the
lack of detail on destination. EU/NATO+ is only superficially a
homogeneous category. It includes countries as different as the UK,
Poland, Turkey, Japan, and the US. Even inside Belgium there is
controversy between Flanders and Wallonia on what is an acceptable
export destination. European arms export policy is based on a Common
Position, but also based on interests and interpretations rooting in
centuries of sovereign foreign, economic and defence policies. NATO+
countries which are outside the EU have even more room to follow
policies to their own liking and interests.
Table
2: Value reported realizations of definitive export of military
products in 2017 under General License NL009 (F-35 Lightning II)
|
|
Country
of destination
|
Value
(€)
|
Canada
|
190,000
|
Italy
|
6,590,000
|
Japan
|
190,000
|
Turkey
|
160,000
|
UK
|
1,860,000
|
US
|
88,900,000
|
Total
|
97,800,000
|
Source:
Table 8, Annual arms export report 2017, in Dutch, page 31.
|
|
 |
| Map with F-16 operators in bluewith former operators in red. Wikipedia. Slovakia in July 2018 the latest new customer not yet included. |
Licensed exports of
components runs from parts for fighter and transport aircraft, attack
and naval helicopters, aircraft engines, to vehicles, simulation and
optical equipment. Components of drones go to the US and India.
Components for Airbus
A400M transport planes are sold to Turkey (see table
3). Ankara also buys parts for the T-625
transport helicopter produced by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI).
Transport planes and heli's are used to fly troops and equipment
where needed; considering the conflict with the Kurds the Dutch
government would never allow the export of complete systems. For
Turkey this air transport capacity is critical for internal and
foreign military deployment.
The Netherlands exports
parts for Typhoon fighters (also named EFA/Eurofighter). The
Eurofighter is assembled by companies in four different countries and
exported to the Gulf region, included Riyadh. The Saudi's are also
buying Sea Sparrow missiles (in the Dutch licenses also listed as
ESSM or anti-air missiles). It is impossible to distill this from the
Dutch arms export records, because all ESSM exports are going to the
US. But we know they do not stay there.
The reason for the
temporarily import of Hawk trainer aircraft parts from the United
Arab Emirates to the Netherlands and back again to the Emirates,
reported in the 2017 overview, is unclear. It is not a major deal (4
x € 54.000), but the Gulf states depend on trainers for their air
operations against Yemen, according to Defense
News of February 2018. The producer of the
Hawk trainer, British Aerospace Systems (BAES) established
an repair and overhaul facility in the UAE in
2017. But even if the advanced trainers are not directly involved in
the conflict, the planes are used to train the fighter pilots
creating suffering and havoc for the people of Yemen.
It is not the size of the individual licenses for
components (although some have a large value), but the enormity which
makes the issue of components important. The export mainly follows
negotiations during the acquisition of large systems which guarantees
a Dutch role in the production of major weapon systems. Reporting of
component export should at least provide insight in for what specific
weapons systems the components are sold. Reporting should not mention
naval vessels, but SIGMA 10514; not C3, but fire control radar, not
aircraft but C-130 or F-16, not missile but ESSM etc. Moreover, the
Netherlands should not only negotiate sales, but also public access
to information on the final destination of major weapon systems with
Dutch components. It makes a huge difference if this destination is
Belgium or Bahrain.
Written for Stop Wapenhandel
Written for Stop Wapenhandel
MB July 23 2018
