Post by TNO

Ukrainian Minister of Defence Mykhailo Fedorov visited TNO yesterday, together with State Secretary for Defence Derk Boswijk. They were welcomed by TNO CEO Tjark Tjin-A-Tsoi. The visit centred on innovation: how new technologies developed by TNO and industry partners can be brought faster from research into real-world deployment. Fedorov was briefed on TNO’s role across the entire defense innovation ecosystem by Hendrik-Jan van Veen, managing-director TNO Defence, Safety and Security. Focus here was the connection of the operational needs of the Dutch ministry of Defence and Ukraine with science and industry. Van Veen underlined in his speech the growing reciprocal collaboration in innovation between the Netherlands and Ukraine. After a series of Dutch company demos, TNO showcased several disruptive innovations that are being accelerated towards new military capabilities and market introduction. These and other innovations will significantly enhance the operational effectiveness of the Dutch armed forces, and also that of partner countries such as Ukraine. One example is a microfactory for energetic materials, integrated into standard shipping containers. Instead of relying on a single large facility, the concept enables a distributed network of compact, scalable and mobile production units for materials such as TNT, RDX and HMX, along with their precursors. The Dutch Ministry of Defence (Ministerie van Defensie) has recently expressed its support to help bring this innovation to production readiness at pace. This is a step toward more resilient, flexible and rapidly deployable defence production in Europe.