The port of Antwerp will get its own anti-aircraft defence system in 2027, Prime Minister Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist N-VA) told a meeting of the Antwerp port community. Daily Gazet van Antwerpen reported the news that was confirmed by the Port of Antwerp-Bruges. It had already emerged that the Belgian army had purchased Norwegian NASAMS anti-aircraft weapons, but the exact locations where these would be stationed were still unknown.
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‘Port of Antwerp to get anti-aircraft defence from 2027,’ says Prime Minister Bart De Wever
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Speaking to an audience of 400 people up in Antwerp, Prime Minister Bart De Wever said that anti-aircraft guns will be installed in the Port of Antwerp in 2027. De Wever made this announcement during a question and answer session with the CEO of the Port of Antwerp-Bruges. The port has confirmed the prime minister's news but is refraining from comment for the time being.
Details about the exact location or number of weapons deployed in Antwerp are not yet available. However, the port infrastructure is of economic and strategic importance. A pipeline carrying kerosene runs from Antwerp to Marseilles in France. The port is also crucial for the supply of American military equipment to Europe.
‘That economic and military heart must be protected,’ emphasises VRT defence specialist Jens Franssen. ‘In times of conflict, that kerosene is essential to supply all military and civilian airports between Schiphol (the Netherlands) and Marseilles (France) with fuel.’
Norwegian anti-aircraft artillery
Last October, it was announced that the Belgian army had purchased Norwegian NASAMS anti-aircraft artillery. ‘This system is unique because it works perfectly with the missiles we already use,’ Franssen explains.
It is a flexible system. ‘The missiles currently mounted on F-16 aircraft and soon to be mounted on F-35s can be used, and the missiles we already purchase are also compatible.’
A new intermediate layer of defence
NASAMS belongs to the so-called “intermediate layer” of air defence. The system is designed to protect cities such as Brussels and Antwerp against fighter planes, drones or other short-range threats.
Anti-aircraft defence consists of three layers, Franssen explains. ‘You have the radars that can detect incoming aircraft and missiles. Then you have a control system that analyses the threat, and finally you have radars that can guide flying anti-aircraft missiles.’
Such a system is now being installed in Antwerp.
‘With such a system, you can, for example, take out a Shahed drone,’ Franssen says. However, there are limitations: small drones flying low between buildings remain difficult to detect.
A Benelux defence dome
In defence matters, Belgium works closely with the Netherlands, which uses the same system. ‘A single NASAMS battery can protect an area of tens of kilometres,’ explains Franssen. ‘By coordinating all these systems, we will eventually be able to create a “dome” covering the entire Benelux region.’
The first umbrella, which will be installed in the port of Antwerp in about a year's time, will be leased from Norway. ‘The systems purchased by Belgium will not be delivered until 2028. A new HQ for these systems will be established in Ursel in East Flanders. It is located right in the middle of the triangle between the ports of Zeebrugge, Antwerp and Ghent.’
According to Franssen, in the long term, air defences will also be installed at other military targets. ‘That is not illogical, given the threatening language coming from Russia. The fact that Washington no longer wants unconditionally to guarantee the defence of Europe also forces us to invest heavily in our own European systems.’