For our French-speaking non-European readers, you should know that the so-called Frontex is actually the European Border and Coast Guard Agency. It is the one that, since mid-March 2023, has implemented the Airbus Defense and Space C295MPA Persuader aircraft belonging to the company. Forca Area Portuguesawith its full crew. Specially deployed in Malaga in southern Spain, the twin engine is involved in the protection of the southern borders of the European Union and especially in highly sensitive missions related to human migration.. The aircraft in question can guide in particular air rescue operations for refugees from Africa.
The use of military aircraft, and therefore the personnel associated with them, is also a way for Frontex to regain its virginity after accusations related to the lack of transparency of its operations or possible violations of the rules. Fundamentals of human rights. Thus EU officials hope to lend some credibility to the work of AEGFGC staff.
However, the Portuguese pilots are famous for their high level of professionalism in the so-called Patmar missions, very close to their definitions of air control that Frontex wants. The men and women who work aboard the C295MPA Persuader are not tasked with tracking enemy submarines in the Mediterranean Sea as in the North Atlantic, but the fragile boats of migrant and refugee smugglers. Above all, as the Portuguese government has reminded us, the role of its army is more humanitarian than truly coercive. Furthermore, the aircraft carries two air-droppable SAR series per flight, each allowing the lives of about thirty people while awaiting rescue helicopters and ships.
Airbus DS C295MPA PersuadeEcuador 502 elephants affiliate Forca Area Portuguesa So for about three weeks she left her nest for Montejo Air Base, on the eastern outskirts of Lisbon in southern Spain. The plane landed with its landing gear at Malaga airport in Andalusia, in a hangar specially adapted for public service missions. In particular, helicopters Civil Guard. Thanks to its autonomy, the Portuguese plane can fly for ten hours and thus guarantee increased surveillance, especially off the Libyan coast, which is particularly porous for the work of smugglers. From the air, Frontex personnel in the cabin can coordinate anti-immigration actions. For all that is good Forca Area Portuguesa Whoever remains in control of the ship, and therefore it is the officer in charge of it who can decide whether or not to carry out a coercive rather than humane mission.
It is therefore a balancing act generally played in the Mediterranean skies, between European commitments and basic human values. This kind of flight shouldn’t be easy every day.
Photo © Forsa Area Portuguesa.
