On 28 July 2016, Defence Minister Hennis sent an update on the Multi Role Transport Tanker (MRTT) project to the House of Representatives.
Based on publicly available documents, as well as knowledge and experience in the field of defence technology, the Politics and Defence & Security Technology Working Group of the Royal Institute of Engineers (KIVI) has the following comments and questions on the Defence Minister's letter. The questions concern technological or related aspects only.
The update states on page 1 that the A330 MRTT is a Military Off The Shelf (MOTS) system. However, the third paragraph on page 2 indicates that there are non-recurring costs involved. These are usually one-off costs for technical development or modification of a product. The extent and technical content of these is not known to KIVI. However, the Netherlands bears a significant part of these non-recurring costs, and will apparently have to pay an even larger part if Poland eventually decides not to participate in the project.
This leads to the following questions:
- What is the amount of non-recurring costs in the MRTT budget and what is it for?
- Does this still involve MOTS or has some degree of technology development proved necessary after all?
- Is the Dutch technology sector, cf. the Industrial Cooperation Agreement, also involved in the non-recurring activities, or is this exclusively production work?
- Does South Korea contribute to the non-recurring costs (see also answers to questions by MP De Roon dated 30 August this year)?
Download the parliamentary letter and commentary via this link.
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The "Politics and Defence & Security Engineering" working group of the Royal Institute of Engineers (KIVI) analyses current political developments in the defence sector. It provides facts and interpretation from the technological knowledge and experience of engineers. The facts and opinions given are based on open sources and on the knowledge and experience of working group members and do not represent an official position of KIVI. The association accepts no liability for anything put forward by the working group or its members.
