The Dutch army is to reconstitute its tank battalion, 13 years after it was abolished during a round of spending cuts, sources have told Dutch media.

Defence minister Ruben Brekelmans will include plans for a 50-strong tank division in the departmental budget later this week, NRC reported.

Brekelmans’ predecessor, Kajsa Ollongren, estimated earlier this year that it would cost between €260 million and €315 million a year to buy, maintain and operate a fleet of new tanks, including personnel costs for 350 military staff.

The last Dutch tank division was disbanded in 2011, but since 2015 the Netherlands has leased a fleet of 18 Leopard tanks from Germany, which are based in Lower Saxony.

The decision follows the new cabinet’s pledge to raise defence spending to match the Nato threshold of 2%, boosting the department’s annual budget by €2.4 billion.

The transatlantic alliance’s latest Defence Planning Capability Review said the Dutch army lacked the capacity to supply a “heavy” and “medium” infantry brigade in wartime.

Former head of the armed forces Mart de Kruif told NOS: “If you have to fight a war, and war is much nearer than we used to think, you want the country to be able to give our boys and girls the best equipment there is. You can’t fight on land without tanks.”

The tanks are expected to be German-manufactured Leopard 2A8 vehicles. The defence ministry would not confirm which model it was planning to buy, but the first orders could be signed off within months.

Last month the Netherlands announced it was buying 14 used Leopard 2A6 tanks, an older model, together with Denmark, to donate to Ukraine. The cost of the vehicles was €165 million.