Frontex Surveillance Aircraft Services with long range maritime surveillance fixed wing aircraft

Frontex seeks EU contractors to supply a comprehensive maritime surveillance service employing manned fixed‑wing aircraft capable of long‑range operations. The service must enable continuous aerial monitoring over the external maritime borders of the host country, with a minimum of two mission sorties per day and the ability to reach and patrol areas more than 401 nautical miles from the base airport. Each mission is required to last at least 2.5 hours within the 1 000–6 000‑foot altitude band at an average speed of 150 knots, and the aircraft must be able to maintain a total flight time of no less than six hours, excluding reserve fuel, while carrying at least two Frontex liaison officers aboard.

The contract covers the full operational lifecycle of the asset, including the provision of the aircraft, adequate crew and liaison officers, ground logistics, maintenance capability, and administrative responsibilities related to registration, certification, authorisations, and insurance. It also requires robust ground support infrastructure such as a hangar, parking, and fuel facilities, as well as the capacity to drop life‑rafts with a minimum of 10 passenger capacity each, sufficient to accommodate at least thirty people, and optionally life buoys broadcasting positions for 48 hours. Data transmission must be delivered via beyond‑line‑of‑sight broadband radio and satellite links with a minimum uplink speed of 512 kbps, ensuring near real‑time video streaming of electro‑optical/infrared imagery to the designated Operations Coordination Centre.

The aircraft must be fitted with an HD multi‑sensor electro‑optical/infrared camera for day and night operations, an Automatic Identification System receiver, an EASA‑certified weather detection and avoidance system, a dedicated maritime surveillance X‑band radar capable of tracking a minimum of 500 simultaneous targets, a global navigation satellite system receiver, and a satellite phone; anti‑jamming equipment is optional. The service contract spans an initial period of two years with an option for a further two years. The aircraft and crew should meet all specified technical standards, including real‑time data transmission and multimodal sensor integration.

Frontex is looking for EU Contractors to provide a fully-fledged service with manned fixed wing aircraft for aerial surveillance over sea which includes: a. aircraft; b. sufficient number of crew members (pilot, sensor operator, technician, etc.) in order to be able to deliver minimum 2 flight missions per day without any limitation; c. sufficient number of Liaison officer(s) in the assigned Operation Coordination Centre (Host MS ICC or Frontex HQ) during the entire deployment period, who will be working on the tasks related to the flight from 60 minutes before the moment of a take-off to 60 minutes following the landing; d. maintenance capability; e. data transmission capability via BRLOS (including near real time video streaming of the EO/IR) to the Operation Coordination Centre; f. logistical infrastructure and ground support (e.g. hangar, parking place of the aircraft, fuel, etc.); g. administrative responsibility (management of any permissions related to registration, certification, transportation, deployment, authorizations, insurances, permissions to fly, etc.) to deliver aerial surveillance over the external maritime border of the Host Country; h. the Contractor shall provide the collected data directly from the Asset to the designated Frontex Coordination Centre via BRLOS with a minimum uplink speed of 512 kbps. The Service which the Contractor shall provide under this FWC is based on mission flights where the Asset, following Frontex instructions, surveys the Area of Interest, included in the Service Deployment Area, searching for ‘objects of interest’ mandated by Frontex Regulation, and passing surveillance data and information to the Operational Coordination Centre designated by Frontex. Aircraft shall be able: - to reach the Area of Interest (surveillance area) located at a distance of more than 401NM from the Base Airport and; - deliver minimum 2.5 hours mission flight in the Area of Interest with the average speed as of approximately 150 knots, between 1000 feet and 6000 feet and return back to the base airport and; - to perform a total minimum of 6 hours of flight (excluding final reserve and contingency fuel) with 2 Frontex liaison officers on board in line with the requirements above, with the minimum mandatory Payload. These missions may also take place over Third Country (TC) waters, TC land territory, as well as to be operated from TC Base Airport. The aircraft has an approved life-raft drop capability (each life-raft has at least 10 PAX capacity, on board the total dropping capacity should secure enough life raft(s) for minimum 30 PAX) and in case of activation of life-raft drop the deployed aircraft can continue its mission flight (without an early landing) and after landing the second mission flight with full operational configuration (including life rafts) may take place within 60 minutes. Contracting Authority will consider as advantage the emergency broadcast system on the life raft 406 or 121.5 MHZ. Optionally, the aircraft can have the drop capability of life buoys able to broadcast minimum their position for at least 48 hours. The Contractor shall guarantee that the Asset is equipped with the following sensors: a. HD multi-sensor Electro-Optical/ Infrared camera for day and night operations; b. Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver; c. Weather detection and avoidance system according to EASA and competent authorities’ prescriptions and certification requirements for the given type of Aircraft, in order to be able to perform all the type of flights requested by the prospective framework contract, following day and night IFR and VFR flight rules; d. Dedicated Maritime Surveillance Radar: minimum requirement to operate in X band and track minimum 500 simultaneous targets; e. Global navigation satellite system receiver; f. (Optional) Anti-jamming equipment in GNSS denied environment; g. Satellite phone. Duration of the future FWC: 2+2 years
Additional information: Security related requirements: The Contractor’s personnel (crew/staff) involved in the management of data/ information shall have valid EU MS security clearance, at the minimum level of CONFIDENTIEL UE/EU CONFIDENTIAL (the declaration of possession/processing/intention of applying for, after FWC signature, of such security clearances by the relevant personnel shall be stated in the Contractor’s offer for the FWC). FOREIGN SUBSIDIES REGULATION: Any economic operator participating in this public procurement procedure shall notify the contracting authority of all foreign financial contributions of at least EUR 4 million per third country received in the last three years prior to the notification pursuant to Article 28(1) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2560. In all other cases they shall submit a declaration pursuant to Article 29(1) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2560, listing all foreign financial contributions received in the last three years prior to the declaration confirming that such contributions are not notifiable. When no foreign financial contributions were received in the last three years prior to the declaration, a declaration is still necessary to confirm that no FFCs were received. Notifications or declarations shall be submitted by using the Form FS-PP available at https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/single-market/public-procurement/foreign-subsidies-regulation_en .In case of unavailability or disruptions in the functioning of the electronic means of communication provided in Section 5.1.11 in the last 5 calendar days before the time limit for receipt indicated in Section 5.1.12, the contracting authority reserves the right to extend this time limit and publish the extension at the Internet address provided in Section 5.1.11, without a preceding publication of a corrigendum to this notice. Economic operators interested in this procurement are invited to subscribe to the call for tenders at the address in Section 5.1.11 in order to get notified when new information or documents are published.
Place of performance: Please consult the procurement documents.

Lot: LOT-0001
Title: Frontex Surveillance Aircraft Services with long range maritime surveillance fixed wing aircraft

Procurement documents
Languages in which the procurement documents are officially available: ENG
Address of the procurement documents: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/tender-details/8caa523d-0004-4dcb-9780-023d0b6686b2-CN?#anchorDocuments