Italian court forces airport to ditch Israeli defense maker

Italy's highest administrative court invalidated a contract to supply Rome's main airport with Israeli anti-drone technology, ruling instead that the system should be procured from an Italian contractor.

The Council of State overturned a lower court decision and awarded the contract for Rome Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci Airport to ELT, an Italian company, rather than Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, which had partnered with Italian contractor Altintech for the bid. ELT had challenged the original award in 2022, arguing the system constituted military equipment unsuitable for a civilian airport facility.

The Council of State determined the anti-drone system qualified as military radar based on technical specifications including electrical power supply, operating temperature and frequency, as well as its registration as defense material. "Defense experts classified [the system] as a military radar based on its electrical power supply, operating temperature, operating frequency, its status... and its registration with the National Registry of Defense Companies as armaments material," According to the court's ruling.

Aeroporti di Roma, the airport operator procuring the system, acknowledged the decision while noting the court "recognized the complexity and novelty of the legal issues involved." The company stated it would comply with the ruling "while ensuring that surveillance and security at the airport continue without interruption, as required by the judgment."

The procurement effort reflects broader European concerns about drone threats at airports. Recent incidents include discovery of an attack drone near Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany last week, found near a Ukrainian aircraft carrying military ammunition. Pan-European aviation organization Eurocontrol documented a sharp rise in drone-related disruptions around airports in 2025, including incursions into Polish, Danish, Norwegian, German, Belgian, Lithuanian and Spanish airspace.

Israel-Italy defense cooperation has cooled since October 2023, with Italy suspending automatic renewal of its bilateral defense agreement in April and announcing no major new defense procurement deals since then.