In May this year, the delegation of the Finnish Border Guard visited the Czech company Primoco UAV SE in order to learn more about its UAVs and the possibilities of their deployment in the protection of the EU's external border. The company demonstrated the capabilities of its One 150 aircraft in very adverse weather conditions, so the delegation had the opportunity to verify its suitability for operation in the harsh Nordic environment. The aircraft was equipped with an electro-optical tracking system and other elements for the remote detection of people, and thus represented a configuration designed exactly for border surveillance and enforcement.

Ladislav Semetkovský, CEO of the company, summarized the visit as follows: “Our company is a holder of the pan-European LUC operating authorization and thanks to this our drones can be deployed at any time to immediately take action in Finland. Our aircraft carries very advanced sensors capable of significantly increasing the efficiency of border control and monitoring activities at minimal cost. The Finnish delegation had the opportunity to see that our aircraft can perform monitoring tasks even in conditions of virtually zero visibility, as they do not rely solely on technically superior optical reconnaissance. We would also like to thank our Embassy in Helsinki, whose support was priceless in presenting our solutions and organizing the visit.”

Matti Sarasmaa, head of Border and Coast Guard division in the Finnish Border Guard HQ emphasizes the importance of UAVs not only in the future but already today in border control at EU´s external borders: “We need to continue to use more and more technical surveillance tools in border monitoring. This will release manpower for tasks which still need to be done by humans. Experiences we gathered during our visit to Primoco confirmed this clearly. The solutions of Primoco offered in this area are reliable and particular surveillance modalities enhanced our perception of different possibilities of efficient performing of border control. 
We are now considering how Primoco's technical solutions can be put into practice in our border control in the coming years. Many thanks to our Primoco colleagues and to the Czech Embassy in Helsinki for facilitating the visit!”