Dutch national Police Anti Riot Force

When in 2020 the Covid measures of the Dutch government caused big demonstrations and even unrest and vandalism, the Dutch national police saw the need to create an anti-riot force which was better equipped to deal with larger numbers of hooligans. A project was started to find the equipment needed. This focused on three areas: the personal equipment of the individual force member, an urban vehicle to control larger crowds and an armed helicopter. Important considerations for all three were the available budget and the need for a speedy delivery and deployment. The choice for the vehicle fell on the Toyota Land Cruiser, armed with a double-barrelled canon which could fire both conventional ammunitions as non-lethal rubber bullets and tear gas shells. The Dutch army had captured a number of these vehicles in Afghanistan during their deployment there. These were modified and issued to the police in 2021.

The initial idea was to use the Apache combat helicopter that was also used by the Dutch Air Force. Budget constraints ruled this out, however. Instead, a number of Bell AH-1W SuperCobras was bought from the USA where it was retired from the US Marine Corps in 2020. The armament included tear gas rockets.

Kit: 1/35 Meng Land Cruiser & 1/48 Bell AH-1 Revell