US approves Tomahawk sale to Netherlands

HNLMS De Ruyter performed the Tomahawk proof-of-concept firing off the US east coast on 11 March 2025. (Dutch MoD)

The US government has approved the sale of Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles to the Netherlands in a deal potentially worth over USD2 billion.

In a 25 April notification to Congress, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) confirmed that the US Department of State had sanctioned the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) case. The approval comes just over six weeks after a successful demonstration firing of a single RGM-109E Tomahawk missile from the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) De Zeven Provinciën-class air defence and command frigate (Luchtverdedigings- en commandofregatten: LCF) HNLMS De Ruyter .

The Netherlands government in April 2023 announced its intention to procure the Raytheon-built Tomahawk Block V missile from the US government to meet its requirements for a maritime deep strike capability, making the RNLN only the second European naval service to introduce Tomahawk into service after the UK Royal Navy. As well as planning to fit the RGM-109E missile to the four LCFs and the successor Future Air Defender, the Netherlands is exploring the integration of the torpedo tube launch variant of Tomahawk on its current Walrus-class submarines and the replacement Orka-class boats.

The Netherlands Ministry of Defence (MoD) has split the Tomahawk acquisition effort into three separate FMS cases, recognising that the necessary letter of offer and acceptance for each will not be concurrent. These FMS cases cover Tomahawk missiles and integration services for the LCF frigates and their replacements; Tomahawk missiles and integration services for the Walrus-class and Orka-class submarines; and the initial integration effort associated with the March 2025 test launch from De Ruyter .