Julien den Ouden

Managing Director at Milrem Robotics Netherlands.

 Julien den Ouden works as Managing Director of Milrem’s subsidiary in the Netherlands. Milrem is developing a unique robotics centre in the Netherlands, where customers can become acquainted with Milrem’s agile techniques and the possibilities it has to offer.

Julien manages his team daily. His team consist of operations, technical, and sales specialists focused on robotics. In the past 36 years Julien has been active within the Dutch military as an infantry officer. The first 17 years of his career he was a part of the Dutch special forces.

 After this he went to work in various government positions as a senior manager and thereafter became a senior manager in various large commercial organisations. In those years he has always remained active as a reservist in the Dutch Army.

From 2018-2020 he became the first commander of the Dutch RAS unit as a Lieutenant Colonel. He has built the unit from scratch and overcame all obstacles that may now also come to play in Singapore. His previous unit has grown under his lead from two to dozens of people. He has led a very diverse team, consisting of soldiers from all branches of the armed forces, civilians, technicians, software engineers and AI specialists.

He and his team have been responsible for all successes and milestones of the Dutch RAS unit. Examples include the first LFX with UGVs in Austria, where the THeMIS was combined with an infantry unit. But also, the first FIBUA (Fighting In Build Up Area) experiments and the first load carrying successes in Scotland.

 Another important aspect is that he has overcome all the political obstacles associated with deploying and firing with unmanned systems.