A formal agreement is expected to be inked before the end of this year, and the integration-related work will start as of 2016, media reports said. The new unit is set to become operational at the end of 2019.
Hennis-Plasschaert touted the forthcoming integration as "another groundbreaking step in Dutch-German cooperation.., which will greatly improve European operational capabilities."
Ahead of the integration, the 43rd Mechanized Brigade will be reinforced by a German Panzer Battalion, which will comprise a Dutch Leopard tank company with 100 personnel to be based in Bergen-Hohne, a NATO military training area in in the state of Lower Saxony in northern Germany.
Germany plans to upgrade the Netherlands' 16 remaining Leopard 2A6 tanks to A7 standard and pool them with its own Leopard 2 tanks, in a bid to ensure commonality.
Last year, the Dutch 11th airmobile brigade officially joined the German Army in what was described by Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert as a "historic moment", which will lift "German-Dutch cooperation … to a new level."
