{"id":239191,"date":"2026-08-06T23:04:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T23:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/239191\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T23:04:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T23:04:32","slug":"italy-removes-israeli-companies-including-rafael-from-counter-drone-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/239191\/","title":{"rendered":"Italy removes Israeli companies, including Rafael, from counter-drone project"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a decision carrying significant diplomatic as well as legal implications, Italy\u2019s Council of State has ordered \u201cAeroporti di Roma\u201d (ADR) to replace the Israeli consortium responsible for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/defense-and-tech\/article-903883\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">counter-drone protection system<\/a> at Rome Fiumicino Airport with the Italian electronic warfare company ELT (Elettronica S.p.A.).<\/p>\n<p>According to the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero, the ruling effectively removes two Israeli defense companies &#8211; Altintech and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/tags\/rafael-advanced-defense-systems\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rafael Advanced Defense Systems<\/a>, the manufacturer of Israel\u2019s renowned Iron Dome air defense system &#8211; from one of Italy\u2019s most strategically important civilian infrastructure projects. The decision could attract attention well beyond the procurement dispute, as it affects a high-profile Israeli defense presence in a major European airport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">A ruling was overturned in a May 2024 ruling by the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio, which had previously upheld the award of the contract to the Israeli consortium. ADR has now been given 60 days to finalize a contract with ELT.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">The court also ordered that the case file be transmitted to the Rome Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office, which will evaluate whether criminal investigations are warranted regarding the procurement process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Central to the judgment is the classification of the radar installed at Fiumicino (Rome International Airport).<\/p>\n<p>Technical experts from Italy\u2019s Defense Ministry concluded that the system qualifies as military equipment, citing its technical characteristics, its classification under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, and its registration in Italy\u2019s national registry of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/defense-and-tech\/article-904711\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">military equipment<\/a>. According to the ruling, the necessary authorizations for importing and operating such military material were not in place.<\/p>\n<p>ADR has maintained that the radar is a dual-use system already employed at other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/international\/article-904659\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">European airports<\/a> and for protecting major public events. The airport operator stated it will fully comply with the ruling while ensuring that airport security and counter-drone operations continue uninterrupted.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a decision carrying significant diplomatic as well as legal implications, Italy\u2019s Council of State has ordered \u201cAeroporti&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[2382,2384,711,37,384,6313,715],"class_list":["post-239191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-defense-industry","tag-defense-tech","tag-drone","tag-israel","tag-italy","tag-rafael-advanced-defense-systems","tag-the-media-line"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117051068380194745","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}