Report in Italy: Israeli company Rafael's win for Rome airport security cancelled
According to a report in the newspaper Il Messaggero, Italian authorities have ordered the cessation of the use of Rafael's anti-drone system at Fiumicino International Airport and the transfer of the contract to an Italian company. The reason: the system was defined as "military equipment" imported without the required permits.
A legal and security drama in Italy is placing the Israeli defense company Rafael at the center. Italy's Supreme Administrative Court has overturned a previous ruling, determining that the contract for the supply of an anti-drone defense system at Leonardo da Vinci (Fiumicino) Airport in Rome must be cancelled. According to the report, the system was supplied by a group that included the Italian company Altintech together with Israel's Rafael. Now, the court has ruled that the contract will be transferred to a competing Italian company (ELT), and the airport management has 60 days to carry out the replacement.
The Italian newspaper Il Messaggero described the ruling as a plot twist that opens up new scenarios, primarily on the diplomatic level, because a company like Rafael, which is considered very close to the Israeli military and industrial establishment, is being ousted.
What led to the disqualification of the Israeli system? At the center of the disqualification is a detailed technical report by experts from the Italian Ministry of Defense. After deliberations and in-depth checks, Italian security officials determined that the Israeli radar used to detect drones in the airport's skies is not a civilian radar, but a military installation in every sense. The determination was based on various technical parameters, including:
-
The system's electrical power consumption
-
Its operating temperature
-
Operating frequencies
-
Its subjection to laws on the control of military equipment
-
Its registration in Italy's national weapons and armament database
The significance of the determination is that the operation of the radar required prior import permits and special security clearances — permits that, according to the court's claim, were not obtained legally. In an exceptional step, the authorities did not stop at just cancelling the tender win, but ordered the transfer of all case materials and evidence to the Public Prosecutor's Office in Rome, in order to check whether there were flaws in the project that open the door to a criminal investigation against officials in the airport's management.
The airport management (ADR) rejects the claims. In documents submitted to the court, it argued that the Israeli radar is defined as dual-use equipment, suitable for civilian needs as well, and that systems of its type operate safely in other airports in Europe and even in securing stadiums and mega-events.
In response to the report in the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, the airport management stated:
"The company acted with full transparency throughout all stages of the tender and under the close supervision of aviation authorities. We will implement the court's ruling in full and ensure that airport security and anti-drone scanning will continue continuously and without any interruption."
