Former Dutch Defense Minister Henk Kamp proposed in 2005 buying 30 Tomahawk missiles for use by the Dutch Navy during joint military operations with the United States and the United Kingdom.
Eimert van Middelkoop, the current defense minister, said that the 70 million euros initially allocated for the missile purchases will be spent elsewhere, in particular, on a military recruitment campaign to attract young people to the Dutch Armed Forces and improving conditions in the professional army.
The minister also said the Netherlands had no need for Tomahawks as they would never use such powerful cruise missiles in military operations. If the deal had gone ahead, the Netherlands would have been the third country, after the U.S. and Britain to possess Tomahawks.
