Colonel Eric Molenaar

Head of Land and Joint Projects Dutch Materiel and IT Command (COMMIT)

Col Eric J. Molenaar MSc (1965) joined the Army in 1987 after a short career as a merchant navy officer. In 1999 he graduated from the Delft University of Technology with a degree in mechanical engineer. He went through the ranks as a logistic officer, mainly in the maintenance and C4I branch. Amongst other postings he commanded the maintenance unit of 43rd Mechanized Brigade from 2004 to 2007 and was the deputy commander of the Joint IT Command 2018-2019. He deployed to Bosnia in 1995(UNMO) and Afghanistan in 2007(Regional Command South, DCOS Support). Col Molenaar is currently the head of Land and Joint projects at the Material and IT Command. In this function he plays a key role in the rearmament of the Royal Netherlands Army. As such he successfully absorbed the vast majority of new projects started due to the white paper 2022 ans since the war in Ukraine. His department more than doubled in size since he took over. He enjoys,working on the edge of political decision making and the projects in order to get the best material for the operational user. Col Molenaar is a family men, married, has three daughters and five grandchildren.