Anti-Submarine Warfare Frigate (Royal Netherlands Navy)

The current M-frigates, originally all built in the Netherlands but apart from two units sold to Belgium, Portugal, and Chile are reaching their planned retirement age around 2020. However, due to extensive budget cuts over the past decades and other large materiel programs such as the acquisition of the F-35 for the Royal Netherlands Air Force, the Dutch Ministry of Defense currently does not have enough funds available to start building the ships. Therefore, lifespan of the current vessels has been extended until 2025. Keeping the ships any longer will cause problems with NATO and related tasks because the ships weapons suite is outdated and not up to current standards. For example: the M-frigates only carry 16 surface-to-air missiles in the form of the outdated NATO Sea Sparrow (RIM-7). Onboard modern ships the Evolved Sea Sparrow does the job, but do not fit in the likewise outdated Mk48 VLS cells on board the M-frigates. Apart from these, the M-frigates only have a single Goalkeeper system for CIWS. Offensive capabilities are limited to obsolete RGM-84 Harpoon missiles. The 76mm cannon is not fit for modern semi-guided munitions like DART, Davide/STRALES, or VULCANO. Additionally; the RNLN searched for European partners to build the ships with and cut costs, and in January 2017 reached an agreement with the Belgian Navy to build a total of four ships together. The Netherlands leads the ASWF project, with Damen and Thales acting as prime contractors. The costs for the 4 ships are currently estimated at 1.50-2.50 billion euro's for the two Dutch frigates and 1 billion euro's for the two Belgian frigates. However, as of 2020, the in-service date for the two Dutch frigates had slipped to 2028–29 with the Belgian frigates following immediately thereafter. In March 2023, the Dutch Ministry of Defense announced that it expected to deploy the first frigate in 2029, with Belgium deploying their first in 2030. The other two remaining frigates would be deployed in the following years. A final agreement for the four ships was signed on 22 June 2023 by Dutch Minister of Defence Kajsa Ollongren and her Belgian counterpart Ludivine Dedonder. On 5 September 2024, the Dutch Ministry of Defense released the 2024 Defense Memorandum which sees the Royal Netherlands Navy receiving 2 additional frigates, bringing the total order to 4 frigates for the Dutch navy and 6 in total. A third Belgian frigate has been spoken about for a long time. In June 2024 the Minister of Defence, Ludivine Dedonder, said the choice for a third ship was up to a next government. In a leaked coalition agreement of the new De Wever Government a substantial increase in defence spending was announced, among which a third frigate was specified, bringing the total order to 3 frigates for the Belgian navy and 7 in total. ==Design==

Armament The ASWF frigates are equipped with a 76 mm Sovraponte as primary naval gun. This naval gun is capable of firing DART munition. Besides the Sovraponte gun, each frigate will also be equipped with two Bofors 40 Mk4 as secondary naval guns. When it comes to missiles, the frigates will be armed with a RIM-116 RAM. Furthermore, the ships will be equipped with two 4 canister NSM launchers and two 8-cell Mk 41 strike-length VLS that are capable of launching a total of 64 ESSM Block 2 missiles in a quad-pack configuration. In addition, the ASWF is armed with a torpedo system that is capable of launching the Mk 54 torpedo. The Netherlands plan to add the Atlaks Elektronik anti-torpedo torpedo SeaSpider. There is also room for future growth, such as potentially arming the frigates with anti-torpedo torpedoes and laser weapons. Sensors and processing systems The Anti-Submarine Warfare Frigates will be equipped with the Above Water Warfare System (AWWS). The AWWS is based on the SM400 Block 2 S-band air surveillance radar and the APAR Block 2 X-band fire control radar. This radar features X-band technology and has multi-frequency capabilities and small target detection algorithms. The combat management system (CMS) of the ASWF will be developed by Maritime IT Department (Dutch: Afdeling Maritieme IT) of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The frigates will also be equipped with a NAVICS integrated communications system of Rohde & Schwarz. Unmanned systems In April 2024 it was reported that the Dutch Ministry of Defence together with Dutch Naval Design (DND) will develop an unmanned surface vessel (USV) that will be deployed from the ASWFs. The USV will be around 12 meters long and focus on Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW). It is expected to have an active dipping sonar and a minimum endurance of at least 96 hours. The vessel will be carried in the mission bay of the ASWF and be launched and recovered via a cradle-type system. They will also have RENK gearboxes that will be part of the combined diesel-electric and diesel (CODLAD) propulsion system. == Construction ==

The hulls will be partially manufactured in Romania, at Damen's shipyard in Galati. It will be fitted with its system at the Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding facility. Contracts In November 2023 it was reported that Exail will provide advanced inertial navigation systems (INS) and data distribution units for the ASWF. Hatenboer-Water has been contracted to supply freshwater systems for the frigates, while ballast water treatment systems (BWTS) will be delivered by Optimarin. In October 2024 Damen signed a contract with Alfa Laval for the delivery of fuel oil separators, cleaning tables, oily bilge water separators and ILS deliverables. In June 2025 it was reported that Damen Marine Components was awarded a contract to design, engineer and produce eight rudders for the ASW Frigates. These rudders will be designed to be as silent as possible and able to withstand shock loads. That same month it was also reported that Vestdavit had signed a contract to provide advanced dual davit systems and accompanying equipment for the frigates. Furthermore, a contract was signed in June with Ultra Maritime to supply an anti-submarine warfare suite for the ships and torpedo defense capabilities. The anti-submarine warfare suite will include the Low-Frequency Active Passive Sonar (LFAPS) system. == List of ships ==

Norway The ASWF was one of the eleven competitors in the Norwegian future frigate program. This program would determine which frigate design would be used to replace the . In November 2024 the ASWF was not selected when the competition was narrowed to four competitors. == See also ==