The Enforcer is a ship design jointly developed by the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Spanish Navy. Development began in the 1980s, when the Royal Netherlands Navy began investigating ways to provide an amphibious transport capability. In 1994, preliminary design work began. The Spanish government proposed in 1990 to collaborate on the design. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in June 1992. Development of the base design occurred during 1993, after which the navies turned local companies for further design work and construction: Royal Schelde in the Netherlands, and Bazán (which became Navantia in 2005) in Spain.