Europe Wants to Keep Track of Migrant Route Surveillance With UAS

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EU border patrol agency Frontex announced recently that it intends to use remotely piloted aircraft for maritime surveillance, adding drones to its existing portfolio of satellite and sensor technologies for monitoring vessel traffic and migrant flows.

UASVision reports that the agency intends to conduct its first operational tests of the aircraft later in 2016.

At present, Frontex is dependent upon individual member states’ coast guards, with widely varying assets, capabilities and practices but the agency’s operations have progressively expanded over the course of the last two years as an unprecedented migrant crisis has shaken European politics. the European Commission has even proposed folding Frontex into a new European Border and Coast Guard with expanded authority and twice as many personnel, and the measure is making its way through the EU’s legislative process.

Earlier this month, the European Commission requested a budget of about $25 million annually to support EU-operated migrant-monitoring maritime drones – to be operated by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). In negotiations, Germany objected to the plan on the grounds that EMSA is a maritime safety authority, and it is pushing for drone operations to be handled by Frontex for border patrol purposes.

Maritime UAVs are already in operation in the U.S. for national security missions, with more and larger models under development. The U.S. Coast Guard operates Predator drones with the U.S. Border Patrol for surveillance and interdiction, and is testing the Boeing Insitu ScanEagle system.