Deputy minister Jack de Vries has sent a letter to the Dutch Parliament informing them that the MoD is going to start a project aimed at upgrading the Goalkeeper CIWS.
The Goalkeeper has been designed by Signaal, then a subsidiary of Philips, between 1975 and 1979 and entered service with the Dutch Navy in 1980.
According to the letter the development of more sophisticated anti-ship missiles means the Goalkeeper has become less effective. Besides that a couple of parts are now technologically outdated, resulting in the system being more vulnerable to malfunctions.
The radar will be upgraded, to make the system better suitable against threats in the littorals.
The electronics, prime movers, control circuit apparatus and software will also be upgraded or replaced.
Thales Nederland and General Dynamics will be involved in the upgrade.
The actual upgrading will be done between 2012 and 2018 during the CIWS' regular maintenance.
At the moment it looks like the Dutch will have to pay for the development themselves, although the other countries that use the system have shown interest in the upgrade.
The Dutch intend to keep their Goalkeepers in service until 2025.
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