Hungary is planning to deploy state-of-the-art technology both at its official border crossing points and large areas adjacent to neighboring countries.
The details are contained in the white paper entitled Hungary’s integrated border administration strategy (2019-2021), which is largely based on research jointly conducted by the National Police Headquarters, the National University of Public Service and the Budapest Technical University.
Rmx.news points out that within the upgrade, biometric scanners allowing for automated passenger entry will be deployed at Hungary’s Schengen borders (i.e. those neighboring countries who are not part of the European Union’s single area without border controls) and at its international airports.
In addition, green borders in the Schengen area will have swarms of autonomous drones patrolling and recording designated areas 24/7, which will be monitored by human personnel who can decide when the deployment of live patrols is necessary.
The project, named Roborder was partly funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and development fund. The complete systems deployed in border areas – optimized for the protection of ground borders – will consist of UGVs (Unmanned Ground Vehicles), UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles colloquially known as drones), fixed radar and infrared surveillance and command centers.
The autonomous drone swarms will be able to conduct basic surveillance without human guidance, but their automatic routines can be overruled by a human operator who can assign them specific tasks. Based on the document, it seems that none of these drones will be armed.
Photo credit: police.hu