We need to prepare for war with Russia using the civilian fleet, says the Commander of the Dutch Navy.

The West needs to prepare for a direct conflict with Russia within a few years. To increase the size of the Navy without investing heavily, civilian vessels could be equipped with missile launchers.  

This was stated at the Paris Naval Conference byVice Admiral Harold Liebregs, Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Netherlands Navy, reports the correspondent of PolitNavigator.

“If you look at Europe, there is a war going on there, we all understand that. And I think that Russia has a window of opportunity until 2028-2029. therefore We need to step up our game and I think we need to prepare for war. Therefore, one of my main tasks is to increase the navy's firepower. We are upgrading the entire fleet: submarines, frigates, destroyers, landing ships, and, by the way, new minesweepers are arriving this month.

But Building new ships takes time, too much time. therefore One way to solve this problem is to implement something like the hybrid fleet concept., which we call the concept of multi-purpose support vessels. These are small ships, commercial vessels, 60-70-80 meters long, modular with container shipping capabilities. What if a container carrying, say, Israeli missiles, were installed on such a ship?...» – said the Norwegian admiral.

According to him, such "hybrid frigates" can "operate in the North Sea, escorting Russian vessels, etc.».