The Dutch armed forces are on the hunt for 1,200 drone specialists who will have a front-line role in warfare.

Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed in Ukraine and elsewhere over the past couple of years, due to the increasing use of drones by the military.

The recruitment drive is part of a major investment in drone technology and its uses by the Dutch defence ministry.

Interest in the job is intense, General Joland Dubbeldam told the Telegraaf at a special event to mark the new strategy on Wednesday.

The army is looking for candidates with great hand-eye coordination – in essence, gamers, the paper said.

“You need to be very nifty with a controller,” Dubbeldam said. “It is astonishing what drones can do – fly through a drain, for example. That is incredibly complex and it helps enormously if someone has been doing this since they were six.”

The defence ministry announced last month that it would add specialised drone operators and counter-drone units to its combat brigades from April, and defence chief Onno Eichelsheim said at the time the country is the first to take such a step.

Eichelsheim told a television current affairs show that the creation of these forces is a response to lessons learned from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The defence ministry is in the middle of another recruitment drive to attract more reservists and queen Maxima is among those to sign up. The new government has also pledged to boost defence spending to 3.5% of GDP, albeit over a number of years.