Armed Forces air wing in Frontex Operation Aeneas

During the month of August the AFM's King Air maritime patrol aircraft, were deployed to Brindisi, Italy to participate in the Frontex sponsored Operation Aeneas. This deployment was split between two separate air crews.

Frontex, the European Agency for the Management of the External Borders of the EU regularly sponsors operational areas around European member state borders in an effort to monitor illegal activities such as irregular migration and the trafficking of contraband. Operation Aeneas covers the Adriatic and Ionian Sea between the coasts of Italy, Greece, and Albania.

On the first of August one AFM King Air maritime patrol aircraft and a crew consisting of two pilots, two aircraft mission systems operators, and one ground engineer deployed to Brindisi Italy and immediately began carrying out surveillance missions in the area. As scheduled, this crew was substituted on 15 September with a second crew that returned back to Malta on the 31 of September.

Operation Aeneas patrols consisted mainly of night air patrols covering parts of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. Both crews achieved a high level of success in interdicting irregular migrants and contraband at sea. The participation and success of the Maltese crews even made it into the Italian news media after finding a ship transporting migrants towards the Italian shores and a fast boat smuggling narcotics into Albania.