Airbus and Leonardo | Defects and crashes: Frontex is struggling with expensive drone flops

The recently tested US vertical take-off aircraft "V-Bat" could solve several of Frontex's drone problems - including the disruptive tracking of flights by NGOs. Photo: Frontex In March 2026, Airbus Defense and Space reported a milestone: the drone “Heron 1” had achieved 10,000 flight hours as part of a Frontex mission in Malta. According to the Bremen-based arms company, the agreed services were fulfilled for five years and the flights were maintained despite limited resources. Even long sea missions and adverse weather phases could not have affected the success.

However, internal documents published on the EU border agency's website following a freedom of information request show a long chain of months-long technical failures of two drones, unplanned maintenance and a deep rift between the agency and its main contractor Airbus. However, the Italian defense giant Leonardo, which came into play because of Airbus' non-compliance, was also unable to deliver the drone services as ordered. Frontex responded with layoffs.

After winning the contract for the Frontex drone service in the Mediterranean, Airbus initially stationed a “Heron 1” in Malta, followed a year later by another in Crete. The long-range drone with a 16-meter wingspan is manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). In EU operations, they are supposed to monitor the central and eastern Mediterranean. If the pilots discover boats with migrants on their way to Europe, the coast guards of the neighboring countries are informed so that the people can be brought back, especially to Libya.

As early as 2022, Frontex complained about the poor quality of the infrared cameras on board the drones and the Israeli subcontractor IAI was supposed to repair them. In March 2023, the drone was in unscheduled maintenance in Malta for over a month. At the beginning of October of the same year, a mission was canceled due to an error in the collision warning system, followed four days later due to engine problems and high oil temperatures. The following week the drone had to return to base at Valletta International Airport again due to engine problems. This incident caused “negative press coverage,” as Frontex angrily wrote to Airbus: Because the “Heron 1” blocked the runway for a long time, commercial flights had to be diverted.

The series of mishaps continued on Crete: in August 2023, the “Heron 1” crashed into the sea. Frontex finally terminated the individual contract for the Greece mission on October 23, 2023 because Airbus did not provide a replacement within the contract period and there was a risk of a gap in the surveillance flights of at least 3.5 months. After another crash off Malta in April 2026, Airbus' backlog of flying hours continued to grow. The replacement device that was flown in was not ready for use until weeks later. Frontex then demanded 6,929 euros in reimbursement for each day of flight cancellation.

A recurring problem was delayed repairs. Spare parts, for example for replacing engines, often arrived too late, apparently because the government of the producing country issued export licenses for military technology late or not at all. The country is blacked out in the Frontex documents, but it can only be Israel.

According to the documents, in the first few years Frontex was accommodating to Airbus and even turned a blind eye when the drones did not take off immediately after a contract extension signed in June 2023, but only two months later. This delay was agreed to as a “sign of good will,” it says in a letter.

It is difficult to determine how much the drone flights cost Frontex. The first framework contracts had a volume of 50 million euros in 2021, were then supplemented to include flying hours and - in the case of Malta - extended twice for 75 million euros. In 2024, the framework agreement for both drones was concluded with a budget of 184.2 million euros. However, Frontex does not comment on the funds actually accessed and refers to “commercially sensitive data”.

It also remains unclear what the contractual partners agreed on for the canceled flight hours. Six weeks ago, a meeting with Airbus was supposed to take place at the Frontex headquarters in Warsaw. The Bremen-based company had repeatedly tried to replace the contractually agreed fines for delayed or canceled missions with additional hours to be flown later. Frontex rejected the deal: it undermined the purpose of contractual penalties and disadvantaged the competition.

In the case of Airbus and IAI, the direct competitor is Leonardo, which was defeated in the new award of the framework contract in 2024, but is named as the second beneficiary if Airbus does not provide the services as required. After Frontex actually terminated Airbus, Leonardo received the order for flights in the central Mediterranean on January 12, 2026.

This award is piquant because Leonardo failed in a lawsuit against Frontex before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in 2022. The company had demanded that the award of the first framework contract to Airbus be annulled because it considered its own offer to be better.

But Leonardo's "Falco" also did not meet the contractually guaranteed requirements. The operation was spatially restricted, apparently due to problems with the aviation authorities of a neighboring country that was blacked out in the documents - Malta or Italy. This is particularly unfortunate, according to Frontex, since there was "an increased operational need" for drone flights in the central Mediterranean in the summer of 2026 and the Italian authorities therefore called for an expansion of the area of ​​operation.

Because Leonardo did not comply with this request and, according to Frontex, did not provide any evidence of the necessary overflight permits or licenses, the agency also terminated this individual contract within the framework agreement.

It is unclear which aircraft Frontex will use for drone surveillance in the future. It is conceivable to expand the manned flight service, for which Frontex has paid at least a high three-digit million sum to private service providers since 2017, including a US military company.

It is also possible to switch from the large Israeli fixed-wing drones to a new model from a US company that Frontex recently successfully tested on an Italian coast guard ship. It takes off and lands vertically like a rocket and then switches from thrust to horizontal flight. At up to 12 hours, the flight duration of this “V-BAT” is said to be similar to that of the “Heron 1”.

Operating the “V-BaT” would have several advantages for Frontex: the use of ships on the Mediterranean does not require complicated permits for flights from civil airports or in the civil airspace of EU states. The vertical take-off drone weighs less than 150 kilograms and therefore does not need to be registered with the international aviation organization.

This also eliminates the need to switch on a transponder for location purposes. The flight path of the “V-BAT” drones would not be trackable via flight tracking websites. This in turn means that Frontex is even more difficult to control in its controversial dalliance with the Libyan coast guard.

The world would also benefit if Frontex ended the flights with Israeli long-range drones from Malta and Crete: the extremely error-prone devices could not fall on anyone's head.

Airbus was also the main contractor in the Bundeswehr contract for the Israeli “Heron 1” until 2021. The air force has been using these in Afghanistan since 2010 and later also in Mali. Four of the five drones stationed in Mazar-i-Sharif suffered total loss after accidents. In the meantime, the Bundeswehr switched to the successor model and returned all “Heron 1” to Airbus and IAI. It is therefore quite possible that these exact specimens are now flying for Frontex.

Frontex was asked to comment several times for this article and initially stated succinctly that it "does not disclose any details that could endanger the safety of its employees or the effectiveness of its operations." This included specific information on the number, location and movements of deployed equipment. However, the question was not about the drones themselves, but rather the multi-million dollar trouble with Airbus and Leonardo and which contractors Frontex plans to use to continue airborne drone surveillance in the Mediterranean in the future. The press office, which was otherwise willing to provide information, went to the diving station.

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