Dutch airmobile brigade to receive VECTOR 4×4 vehicles

The Royal Netherlands Army's 11 Airmobile Brigade is to receive 41 VECTOR 4×4 vehicles starting in mid-2023. (Dutch MoD)

The Royal Netherlands Army's 11 Airmobile Brigade is to receive Versatile Expeditionary Commando Tactical Off-Road (VECTOR) 4×4 vehicles, the Dutch Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the vehicle's producer, Defenture, announced on 19 December.

The MoD's Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) ordered 41 VECTORs from Defenture earlier the same day, with an option for more vehicles. Deliveries of the 41 vehicles are scheduled from mid-2023 to mid-2024.

The MoD said on its website on 19 December that the vehicles could be employed in support of special forces, whose ground enabling task is the responsibility of 11 AirmobileBrigade. The ministry said the VECTORs would guarantee the brigade's operational readiness and deployability until it receives new airborne vehicles.

In July 2020 the Netherlands' Korps Commandotroepen (KCT) commando force received the last of 75 VECTORs ordered in July 2013 to replace Mercedes-Benz G280 CDI vehicles. Defenture developed VECTOR in close co-operation with the commandos and the DMO.

VECTOR has a maximum gross vehicle weight of 4,700 kg, can carry a payload of 1,140 kg, has a top speed of 130 km/h, and a base operational range of 800 km, according to Janes Land Warfare Platforms: Logistics, Support & Unmanned. It can be transported internally or as an underslung load by a CH-47 Chinook helicopter.

Defenture is also developing the Mammoth, a larger version of the VECTOR with a payload of 3,500 kg, for the German Kommando Spezialekräfte (KSK) special forces command. Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Defenture announced in September 2021 that they had signed a letter of intent on strategic co-operation on airborne vehicles based on VECTOR.