Armed Forces rely on innovative weapon systems and effective modus of operandi to provide optimal protection of both military personnel and civilians against terrorist attacks, piracy and other threats. We are a leading institute in R&D in the field of protection, munitions and weapons.
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It is our aim to conduct ‘science and innovation at the frontline’ and to stand shoulder to shoulder with our partners in ensuring safety and security at the forefront of defence operations. We focus on technological and behavioral innovation, covering both the tangible and the intangible aspects of military missions. Our offering includes knowledge, technological and scientific innovation, assessment services and teams of resourceful, results-driven, independent researchers.
Military protection
Military personnel must be able to operate effectively, safely and securely in a wide variety of operational situations. A comprehensive protection model incorporates the elements of military protection, mission goals, and cost-effectiveness. In addition, we need to look at providing physical protection, to minimize injuries, loss of life and material damage by identifying threats well ahead of time. The quality of life of injured soldiers involved in armed incidents, like IED-attacks, is of utmost importance. Military platforms like vehicles, ships or airframes should provide maximum survivability and protection.
Besides passive protection, the military should use weapon systems that are precise, effective and provide proportional damaging effects to the opponent, but provide minimum collateral damage. In addition, new weapon systems like hypersonic threats and high-energy lasers are expected on the battlefield in the next decade, which should be countered.
Maximum survivability and protection for security professionals and materials
In increasingly complex situations, the professionals at the front line, whose task it is to provide for our safety and security, need the best protection. They must wear optimal personal protective equipment and have access to the best military vehicles, vessels, airplanes and weapon systems, which are vital to their ability to survive and remain fully operational. TNO products cover the following areas:
- Personal protection and survivability
- Vehicle protection and survivability
- Naval ship protection and survivability
- Infrastructure protection and survivability
Emergence of new technologies: anticipating accidents, incidents and threats
A number of trends, including the growing instability in the world, competition over resources, and the rise of nationalist tendencies in many countries, have led to a growing need to invest in strong armed forces. New technologies fuel the emergence of new developments and potential threats, possibly leading to a new arms race. As such, Defence must be able to rely on innovative systems to adapt to new threats and anticipate to accidents and incidents and respond swiftly and decisively. Our products cover the following areas:
- Countering Explosives threats
- Advanced protective materials
- CBRN protection
- Propellants, Explosives and Pyrotechnics
- Ammunition safety
- Weapon systems
- Process safety solutions
Unique, modern testing facilities in Europe
We have one of the most highly advanced weapons testing facilities in Europe. These include our fully renewed indoor ballistic facilities and large scale Vehicle Test Hall, the Weapon Effects Test Centre, High Energy Laser Laboratory, the BSL3 High Tox Laboratory and a large scale breeze tunnel. The combination of these facilities with our technological know-how allows us to offer innovative solutions for protection. With advanced diagnostic and analytic tools, most weapon systems and defence materials can be accurately tested in a controlled environment. With these facilities and expertise we are ready to support our clients for many more decades to come.
Partners and customers
We provide vital defence services to national partners, which include the Netherlands Ministry of Defence (Navy, Airforce, Army), Police, Marin, NLR and the defence industry. As an independent R&D organisation we also offer our expertise to international partners and customers such as foreign MoD’s, NATO, EDA, OPCW and the international defence industry. We assist our customers in the cost-effective and safe acquisition, maintenance and use of protection equipment, weapons systems and ammunition and are partners in the development of new and innovative protection systems and weapon systems.
DISCLAIMER: All our projects and R&D are subject to governmental Export Control
- Artificial Intelligence
- Application areas
- Use cases
- Program line 1: Safe autonomous systems in an open world
- Program line 2: Responsible human-machine interaction
- Secure learning in money laundering detection
- Fair decision making in the job market
- Secure learning in diabetes-2 advice
- Diagnosing for printer maintenance
- Subsidence monitoring
- Fair decision making in justice
- Augmented worker for smart industry
- Energy balancing for smart homes
- Secure learning in oncology research
- Innovation monitoring in policy
- News
- Defence, Safety & Security
- Roadmaps
- Operations & Human Factors
- Climate Chambers for Research into Human Performance
- Desdemona: The ultimate motion simulator
- LT Lab: the TNO learning technology laboratory
- Performance and health monitoring
- Motion sickness and performance
- The neurobiology of Stress
- NetForce Command: an alternative to hierarchical command and control
- Operational military performance in a virtual world
- SUPRA
- Simulation Live Virtual and Constructive
- Concept Development & Experimentation
- IAMD: Integrated Air & Missile Defence
- JROADS
- FACSIM
- Helicopter studies
- Replacement of the F-16
- MARVEL / Comprehensive Approach
- TNO ACE: Advanced CD&E Environment
- Integrated approach to Dutch Royal Navy patrol ships
- Operational analysis during military operations
- SketchaWorld: from sketch to virtual world
- Camouflage
- Information & Sensor Systems
- Digital Resilience of The Netherlands
- LFAS - Low Frequency Active Sonar
- Tanker Remote Vision System
- Platform signatures
- TNO shapes the future of MMICs and RFICs
- CARPET: Computer-Aided Radar Performance Evaluation Tool
- Underwater Warfare and Security
- Wide Area Motion Imagery WAMI
- SAKAMATA: sonar and marine mammals
- PARANOID: rapid information processing
- Mine analysis and threat evaluation
- Ship acoustics and underwater acoustic signatures
- PERSEUS Wind Turbine Radar Interference Assessment tool
- Electromagnetic security
- Operating safely at sea
- Operations at sea
- Ocean Space
- National Security
- A new vision on modernizing the emergency reporting process
- Social media in the security sector
- Automatic Video Compilation and Analysis System (AVACS)
- The Dutch Cyber Cube Method: Improving Human Capital for SOCs and CSIRTs
- Concealed weapon detection
- FP7 Project IMPACT Europe
- Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) policies in Europe
- @MIGO: border control
- Smarter Surveillance, man, machine, synergy
- Cyber Security of Industrial Control Systems
- Privacy enhancing techniques in cyber security data sharing
- Driving Innovation in Crisis Management with DRIVER+
- Crisis management: new challenges, new opportunities
- The learning professional: resilient and deployable for the long term
- Protection, Munitions & Weapons
- Weapons systems control and analysis
- Weapon Effects & Protection Center
- Firepower
- Protection and survivability of vehicles
- Naval protection and survivability
- Infrastructure protection and survivability
- World-class ballistics research
- Countering Explosive Threats
- Materials for protection concepts
- Processing of Propellants, Explosives and Pyrotechnics
- Ammunition Safety
- Ballistic Performance and Personal Protection
- Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Protection
- Anticipating accidents, incidents and threats
- Protecting those who protect us
- Process Safety Solutions: Expertise in Handling Hazardous Conditions Safely
- Expertise groups
- Acoustics and Sonar
- Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Protection
- Electronic Defence
- Energetic Materials
- Explosions, Ballistics and Protection
- Human Behaviour and Organisational Innovation
- Human Machine Teaming
- Human Performance
- Intelligent Autonomous Systems
- Intelligent Imaging
- Military Operations
- Modelling, Simulation and Gaming
- Networked Organisations
- Radar Technology
- Weapon Systems
- Energy Transition
- Roadmaps
- Renewable electricity
- Towards large-scale generation of wind energy
- The important of support structures
- Wind turbines, fully in motion
- Innovation towards 10-20 MW offshore wind turbines
- Modeling 10MW+ turbines aerodynamically
- Design for Reliable Power Performance (D4REL)
- Optimised wind blade tip design
- Vortex-wake models in wind turbine design
- Modelling improvement wind turbine blades
- Converters for Clean, Low Cost Electricity
- Haliade X: largest wind turbine ever
- New research on blade tip improvements
- Less production per wind turbine, still higher yield
- Logistics innovative strength at home and abroad
- Wind turbine management and maintenance
- Wind farms in synergy with the environment
- Innovative methods for wind measurements
- Keeping the electricity grid stable when there’s a surplus of wind and solar
- Innovation and the rise of solar energy
- Solar farms respecting landscape and nature
- Solar panels on farmland
- Research innovative solar parks
- Better design of solar parks
- Savings on solar farm operations and maintenance
- Floating solar panels on inland waterbodies
- Offshore solar energy
- National Consortium Solar in Landscape
- National Consortium Solar on Water
- Field lab floating solar
- Research into environmental effects of solar, wind energy
- Solar energy on buildings and infrastructure
- Solar panels in façades
- Solar windows
- More focus on safety of solar systems
- Solar heat and PV-T
- Roofs for solar energy
- Noise barriers producing solar energy
- Solar energy in road surfaces and crash barriers
- Solar panel energy generated on dikes
- Solar and infrastructure
- Outdoor test facility for BIPV(T)
- Solar Highways
- Solar-powered cars
- Mass customization
- Solar panel efficiency
- New technologies make PV more versatile
- Webinar: Innovations in solar energy technologies
- Putting Europe back in the lead in solar panel production
- System transition
- The social aspects of the energy transition
- TNO facilities for research into environmental effects of solar and wind energy
- Effective interventions to increase energy efficiency and reduce energy poverty
- Green and Ease under one roof
- Capacity building programme for energy efficiency in industry
- Zooming in on the future to make the right choices
- Scenarios for a climate-neutral energy system
- A fair system without energy poverty
- Financing the energy transition
- LAUNCH
- Successful neighbourhood approach: motivate residents
- Towards a reliable, affordable and fair energy system
- Towards CO2 neutral industry
- Reducing CO2 emissions through capture, use and storage
- SEWGS: revolutionary CO2-reduction technology and blue hydrogen production
- STEPWISE and FReSMe: CO2 reduction solutions for the steel industry
- 3D-printing for CO2 capture productivity increase
- Multi-partner ALIGN-CCUS project
- CEMCAP
- Reduce emissions steel industry
- CO₂ capture with AVR
- On-site CO₂ Capture Services: reducing emissions cost effectively
- SEDMES: Efficient technology to convert CO2 to useful product
- Hydrogen for a sustainable energy supply
- Optimising production hydrogen
- Hydrogen storage and transport
- Hydrogen, fuel and feedstock
- H-vision: blue hydrogen to accelerate carbon-low industry
- 15 things you need to know about hydrogen
- World first: Green hydrogen production in the North Sea
- New research centre for hydrogen production
- Identifying the future international chain of green hydrogen
- Opportunities for green hydrogen for the manufacturing industry investigated
- Hydrogen from offshore wind: optimising the electricity grid
- Faraday lab: optimising and scaling up electrolysis
- Blue hydrogen paves the way for green hydrogen
- Biomass to fuels and feedstock
- ARBAHEAT - Sustainable future for coal-fired power stations possible through conversion to biomass
- AMBITION Advanced biofuel production from lignin rich residues
- BECOOL EU Brazilian cooperation on advanced biofuels
- Horti-BlueC - a new EU cooperation on reducing Bio-waste and CO2-footprint in horticulture
- UNRAVEL - valorization of lignocellulosic biomass
- MacroFuels advanced biofuels from seaweed
- BRISK2 Biofuel Research Infrastructure for Sharing Knowledge
- New facility for seaweed processing
- TORWASH technology successful for waste water treatment and recycling plastics
- Biofuels lab: Making transport more sustainable with biofuels
- Take-Off: Sustainable aviation fuels from CO2, water and green energy
- HEREWEAR: Circular textiles from locally-sourced bio-based materials
- Transition to e-fuels: a strategy for HIC Rotterdam
- Re-use of existing infrastructure to accelerate the energy transition
- Sustainable Industrial Heat System
- 4 pioneering routes to a CO2 neutral industry
- Research facility Industrial Electrification accelerates greening of Rotterdam port
- Mollier facility: innovating in industrial drying technology
- Research facility for negative CO2 emissions
- Carnot lab accelerates sustainable industrial heat management
- Using energy and raw materials efficiently in industry
- e-Missi0n MOOI: TNO supports Dow and Shell in electric cracking
- CO2 reduction requires improvement of industrial processes
- Making the industrial energy transition feasible and affordable
- Sustainable subsurface
- Geological Survey of the Netherlands
- Geological Survey of the Netherlands
- 100 years of geological mapping
- GeoTOP
- Sand, gravel and clay extraction
- GIS and other tools for interactive planning
- DINO, Data and Information of the Dutch Subsurface
- BRO: the Dutch Key Register of the Subsurface
- Sustainable use and management Flemish-Dutch subsurface
- Petroleum Geological Atlas of the Southern Permian Basin
- 3D Subsurface mapping of the Dutch offshore
- Geological Survey of the Netherlands across borders
- Towards an energy-producing environment
- Expertise
- Industry
- Roadmaps
- Flexible & Free-form Products
- Space & Scientific Instrumentation
- Semiconductor Equipment
- Smart Industry
- Expertise groups
- Buildings, Infrastructure & Maritime
- Roadmaps
- Safe and Sustainable Living Environment
- Infrastructure
- Sustainable buildings: towards an energy-producing built environment
- Building innovation
- Greenhouse design
- Digitisation in construction
- Smart megastructures
- Expertise groups
- Circular Economy & Environment
- Roadmaps
- Circular economy
- Environment & Climate
- Sustainable Chemical Industry
- Expertise groups
- Healthy Living
- Roadmaps
- Health Technology & Digital Health
- Biomedical Health
- Work
- Youth
- Expertise groups
- Traffic & Transport
- Roadmaps
- SMART and Safe Traffic and Transport
- Societal impact for accessibility and liveability
- Decision-making information based on facts for municipalities
- Making disruptive technologies practicable
- Accessible, healthy and vibrant cities
- CITYkeys – Performance evaluation framework for smart cities and projects
- Big data ecosystems: collaborating on data-controlled cities
- Knowledge mediator puts an end to bickering
- Intact – Climate resilient critical infrastructure
- Organising mobility
- Smart mobility and logistics
- Smart vehicles
- Smart Mobility Research Centre SMRC
- Sustainable Traffic and Transport
- Sustainable Mobility and Logistics
- Improving air quality by monitoring real-world emissions
- Emission factors for road traffic
- Measuring the emissions of powered two wheelers
- Emissions of particulate matter from diesel cars
- Random Cycle Generator
- EnViVer: model traffic flow and emissions
- Measuring real-world emissions with TNO’s Smart Emissions Measurement System (SEMS)
- Measuring the emissions of trucks and buses
- Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Commercial Road Transport
- Measuring the emissions of non-road mobile machinery
- Emission measures in practice
- The transition to CO2-neutral mobility in 2050
- Sustainable Vehicles
- Innovative technologies for zero-emission vehicles
- CO2 reduction by high-efficiency Flex Fuel technology with extremely low emissions
- Actual energy consumption and emissions
- Automotive Battery Research
- Making transport more sustainable by means of electric vehicles
- Energy Efficient Electric Bus E3Bus
- eCoMove
- How hydrogen can accelerate energy transition in the transport sector
- Green performance of ships
- Expertise groups
- Information & Communication Technology
- Roadmaps
- Fast open infrastructures
- Data sharing
- Trusted ICT
- Efficiency, effectiveness, quality and the costs of systems
- Expertise groups
- Strategic Analysis & Policy
- Expertise groups
- Strategic Business Analysis
- Strategy & Policy
- Orchestrating Innovation
- Tech Transfer
Dr. Louk Absil
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