The ruling alliance is to amend the planned defence ministry cuts to ensure five Cougar helicopters and two patrol ships stay operational, CDA MP Raymond Knops told the Telegraaf on Monday.

The revisions will be made public later today when parliament debates the entire package aimed at saving €1bn on the defence ministry budget.
One in six defence jobs are set to go in the shake up. Defence minister Hans Hillen also plans to scrap tanks and Cougar helicopters, to cut the 87 F-16 fighter jets by around a third and to sell off a number of naval vessels.
Unions
Meanwhile, defence unions said on Monday they would not accept an invitation to talks with Hillen on the social aspect of thousands of impending job losses.
They want the minister to first draw up concrete proposals for how he plans to cut the workforce before they will talk about it.
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