The Greek government in a pilot project is expected to use UAS in order to be able to oversee the country’s sea border in the Aegean sea — which is considered one of the main avenues for immigration into Europe. Greece’ s Ministry of Marine and Aegean Sea has already issued a competition call for a UAS which will be handed to the Greek authorities by the end of June.
According to the source, the budget for the UAS reaches 77,800 euros. The unmanned aircraft is expected to fly a total of 60 hours within the first two months.
According to the Greek government, the aircraft will be equipped with gyroscopic cameras, its speed limit will exceed 70 kilometers per hour and it will fly a minimum of 50 kilometers away from its control center.
The Greek Minister of Shipping, Miltiadis Varvitsiotis, has recently announced that Greece through the Aegean Sea receives about 1,000 immigrants per month. Since Greece raised a border fence between itself and Turkey alongside the river Evros in the northeast part of the country, Aegean’s immigration flow has escalated. Note that the deterioration of war-stricken Syria has also amplified the immigration flow.
In 2013 alone, about 10,000 people managed to get into Europe through the Aegean sea and this number is expected to continue rising throughout the year.
Source: Greek Reporter