Royal Netherlands Navy integrates uncrewed systems into fleet combat management system

Published on 20/07/2026 By Dr Lee Willett In News

At the Royal Netherlands Navy MUST uncrewed systems sea trials, the research vessel MV Geosea is pictured operating alongside a NOA UAV. Credit: Netherlands Ministry of Defence

The Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) has successfully tested and demonstrated a new software system designed to integrate maritime uncrewed systems (MUS) command-and-control (C2) capability. The successful work included using the software to integrate MUS systems with each other and with the combat management system (CMS) onboard the navy’s crewed platforms.

The MUS-focused C2 system is called IDUS (Intelligent Distribution of Unmanned Systems). It is a Dutch-made, bespoke software family consisting of several different elements. During the tests and demonstrations, it integrated with a standalone version of the navy’s CAMS/Force Vision Guardion CMS – another indigenously developed C2 product.

The IDUS test and demonstration activity occurred in June, during a month-long maritime uncrewed sea trials (MUST) series, conducted from the RNLN’s Den Helder base, that was designed to prove the capabilities and integration of the navy’s new maritime uncrewed task force (MUTF) construct.

“The main focus for this edition of the MUST series was to prove our software system,” Captain Sjoerd Feenstra, head of the RNLN’s uncrewed systems expertise centre, told Naval News, onboard the Netherlands’ research vessel MV Geosea, during a media day at the conclusion of the MUST activities.

The software is designed to manage uncrewed system use, across tasks ranging from autonomous operations to swarming.

“The main goal was to prove that everything we have developed is actually working with the assets at sea in all three domains [air, surface, and sub-surface],” said Capt Feenstra.

Development and Testing History

IDUS has been developed across recent years, and was tested at the Portuguese Navy/NATO co-hosted ‘REPMUS’ exercise, in southern Portugal in September 2025. At ‘REPMUS’, the testing included having two uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) deployed and tasked by another uncrewed system using the software.

Following further software development since, for MUST the aim was to test IDUS capability across all three domains. Activities included simultaneously ordering and tasking assets from each domain, which were operating in a set area, to work together to complete a mission, Capt Feenstra explained.

“Yes, we managed to do it,” he added.

Integration with Guardion CMS

In this activity, IDUS was also integrated into the Guardion CMS, Capt Feenstra continued. With the CMS deployed widely across the RNLN’s fleet, and with the navy seeking to integrate MUS in all domains and tasks across the fleet’s operations, the navy needs IDUS to be a core Guardion application.

These initial integration steps involved the standalone Guardion version used for MUST. This allowed RNLN operations room personnel in the exercise to create and inject missions and assign MUS assets to them, Capt Feenstra explained.

“So, we now know that we can actually connect IDUS to Guardion. That has been proved to work over these past five weeks,” Capt Feenstra said.

Achieving this integration was another primary goal in the MUST process, he added, with the speed of software development for such systems, including harnessing artificial intelligence, being so significant that getting ahead in this field of work is a main focus.

The collection of crewed and uncrewed platforms present for the MUST trials included an Interceptor USV carrying Scout UUVs (centre), and a Fender USV (right). (Credit: Netherlands Ministry of Defence)

MUST Requirement

According to the RNLN, the MUST process is designed to help accelerate innovation plus the implementation of new concepts across the fleet, in turn to help prepare the navy for an operational future requiring greater combat power.

The geographical area where MUST took place is also operationally significant for NATO. The North Sea is home to vital maritime infrastructure and access points:

• The former includes critical undersea infrastructure (CUI) on the seabed, such as oil and gas pipelines, alongside critical national infrastructure on the surface, such as windfarms.
• The latter includes chokepoints like the Dover Strait (connecting the English Channel).