Toespraak staatssecretaris Boswijk bij opening van nieuw hoofdkantoor Robin Radar Systems

Ladies and gentlemen, dear Robins,

A radar exists to pick up a signal. Today, Robin Radar Systems is sending out a signal of its own.
You have moved to a wonderful new home, or in your own words: a new nest.
The King himself just opened this building.
That shows how much Robin Radar means to the Netherlands.

Congratulations are in order. So is admiration. Before I went into politics, I ran my own business, an engineering firm.
I know how hard it is to grow in the way you have.
Siete started the business in 2010 together with 3 people from TNO.
Today, more than 800 of your radars keep watch in the skies around the world.
And you now fill a nest 3 times as big as your old home.

Your success shows what is possible when industry, Defence and research institutes work closely together.
That is what I want to talk about today.

Above all, your radars look out for one threat: drones.
Drones can strike anywhere, and that threat is coming closer and closer.
In Ukraine, drones have completely changed the way war is waged.
On both sides of the front line lies a kill zone of about 25 kilometres, where drones attack anything that moves.
If the front line ran through this room, that deadly strip would reach far beyond The Hague and Rotterdam.

Drones now cause most of the dead and wounded at the front.
In the first year of the Russian invasion, about 20%. Today it is 80 to 90%.

Drones are also killing Ukrainian civilians on a terrible scale.
This September, missiles and drones caused 3 quarters of all civilian victims.

Picture the railway station in Dnipro, a few weeks ago, on the last Thursday of October.
People are waiting on a busy platform for their train.
Suddenly they hear a sharp, whistling sound, and a Russian jet drone hits.
At least 15 people are killed. 14 are badly hurt, among them a boy of 11.

Robin Radar’s detection systems help prevent horrific attacks like this.
Through the Ministry of Defence, we have already given Ukraine dozens of these radars.
The systems you build here save lives there.
Every day.

A radar buys you time. Take IRIS, your drone radar.
It was specifically built to spot small drones.
Ukrainian operators asked for more: early warnings against the bigger Shahed.
So you increased the range of the radar from 5 to 12 kilometres. That means extra time to take cover, to warn others or to strike back.

In the rest of Europe, many still see this as someone else’s war.
But the truth is: the list of drones over NATO territory keeps growing.
Romania alone has counted 35 drone incursions this year, compared to 9 in all of 2025.
Just last month, Romanian F-16s shot down 2 Geran drones, the same type Russia uses in Ukraine.

Moscow denies any role in these incursions. Yet time and again, the evidence points to Russia.

Drones are close to home as well.
Last year, in November and December, drones disrupted the airspace above our air bases in Volkel, Eindhoven and Gilze-Rijen.
Officially, we still have no answer to who flew them. And that uncertainty is a threat in itself.

Our own ground-based air defence also relies on Robin’s drone radars.
Last year, we scaled up and ordered 100 extra radars from you.
Within 24 hours of approval by parliament, you delivered the first 30 systems.
Within 2 weeks, the first 50 operators had completed their training.

Approved today, delivered tomorrow. That is what a true partner looks like.

That speed brings me to the heart of my story: innovation proves itself in the field.

Robin Radar shows how: with competitive prices, short delivery times, and rapid scale-up when it counts.
It works the same way on the battlefield in Ukraine.
There, every lead in technology is short-lived.
Whoever gets an innovative system to the front fastest, and in the largest numbers, wins.
In Ukraine I saw technicians who travel almost up to the enemy lines to adapt drones on the spot, side by side with the soldiers.

We want to bring that mindset home.
Here in Delft, you can see how it works.
The golden triangle of government, industry and research is in your DNA. It started at TNO, and it has kept going ever since.

At the Ministry of Defence, we are making the same move: from passive buyer to active partner.
That means building together, sharing risk together and keeping ownership of what we build together.

Allow me to show you what each of those means in practice.

A. Building together

Let me start with building together.
We join forces with companies and research institutes, such as in GOPIN, our partnership for air and missile defence.
We are the first to buy, we sign long-term contracts, and we aim to spend at least half of our budget with Dutch and European companies.

We are also shortening the road from the lab to the field, so that new technology reaches the front sooner.
That is why, last week, we launched our own National Institute for Defence Technology (NIDT), modelled on DARPA in the United States.
As you surely know, DARPA helped bring the world stealth aircraft, the internet and GPS, to name just a few.

The NIDT’s first challenge: a smart system that watches the North Sea 24/7.
Fixed sensors, unmanned systems and AI, working as one.
Anyone can submit a solution, from start-ups to established suppliers.

B. Sharing risk together

We also share the risk.
We show commitment before we sign the contract.
And we make it easier by paying in advance.
In that way, companies secure financing sooner and can invest early in research, in stockpiles and in scaling up production.
Exactly what you need to deliver within 24 hours.

Sharing risk also means accepting that some things will fail.
Even if we spend every euro of taxpayers’ money with the greatest of care.

I understand that Siete has a photo of Winston Churchill in his office, with the saying that success means going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.

You live by that spirit: taking risks, falling flat on your face and getting back up.
It is exactly what The Hague needs.
A bureaucracy that often moves slowly and a strain of politics that accepts zero mistakes stand in its way.
And yet risk-taking is the only way forward. It can be done, and it must be done.

C. Keeping ownership of what we build together

Finally, we want to keep what we build together.
For some, protectionism is a dirty word.
Yet in today’s world, strategic knowledge is too valuable to lose.
For that reason, we keep our knowledge here, in the Netherlands and in Europe.

Your radars are a prime example. They bring together sensors and air defence.
In sensors, and radar in particular, our country is a world leader.
Defence makes extra investments in that area.
And air and missile defence is a top priority.

Before I close, one last word about Robin Radar itself.
In this new nest, you can build more radars, close to TNO and TU Delft.
Growth on this scale needs capital. That calls for investors, possibly from abroad.
So you are also entering a new phase in ownership.

I cannot comment on the sale process.
But let me share my personal expectation.
Your roots lie in Dutch research. You work closely with our armed forces and those of our allies.
So I expect Robin Radar to stay firmly grounded in the Netherlands and in the Dutch innovation ecosystem.
This new headquarters in Delft is a sign of that intention.

It brings me back to what your radars do every day. A radar buys time.
In Ukraine, that time saves lives. At home, it protects our bases.

The faster we build together, the more time we win.
Industry, Defence and research working as one.
That is how Siete and his Robins built a European leader.
And that is the signal you are sending today.

Congratulations on your new nest. Let’s make every minute count.

Thank you.