Italian court forces airport to ditch Israeli defense maker
An Italian court last week invalidated a contract for supplying Rome’s main airport with Israeli anti-drone technology, citing bureaucratic problems with using military equipment at a civilian facility.The Council of State, Italy’s highest administrative court, on Tuesday ruled that the contract for supplying the anti-drone system at Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport will go to ELT, an Italian contractor, instead of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which is the chief developer of the Iron Dome projectile interception system. For the Rome airport tender, Rafael partnered with the Italian contractor Altintech.ELT, which was a contender for the contract, in 2022 petitioned a lower court to block the Israeli competitor, arguing theirs was military equipment that fell outside of the civilian category of equipment sought by the government company responsible for the airport, Aeroporti di Roma (ADR), the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported.The lower court, the Lazio Regional Administrative Court, rejected the…
An Italian court has invalidated a contract for Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport to acquire anti-drone technology from Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. The Council of State, Italy's highest administrative court, ruled that Rafael's "military-grade" system was unsuitable for civilian use, awarding the contract instead to Italian firm ELT. This decision followed an appeal by ELT, which argued that Rafael's technology, developed in partnership with Altintech, was military equipment. The court cited the system's classification as military radar based on its power supply, operating temperature, frequency, and registration as armaments material. The ruling comes amidst growing concerns in Europe regarding drone threats, though Italy's defense ties with Israel have also cooled since October 7, 2023.
© All rights to the original article belong to the source. Din Online shows a headline, an excerpt and a link only. The objectivity rating is computed automatically and is an estimate only.
Discussion
No comments yet — be the first to comment.