Operations Exhibition Opens Warsaw Showcases Border Tech

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Frontex opens its Operations Exhibition to mark a new chapter in transparency

2026-04-01

Frontex officially opened its Operations Exhibition at the headquarters in Warsaw, where visitors can try the same document readers and fingerprint scanners used by border guards at Europe's borders, walk past scale models of the vessels and aircraft used in Frontex operations or put on VR goggles for an immersive experience of field scenarios.

"Border management can be hard to picture from a building in the centre of Warsaw," said Hans Leijtens. "This exhibition changes that: it brings the field here, into our own building, so that anyone who walks through can see and understand what our people actually do out there and what it takes. That matters for our visitors, and honestly it matters for our own staff too."

The exhibition is situated on the recently renovated sixth floor of the Frontex Spire building and will give visitors a direct look at how the agency works in the field and in the area of returns. Some items displayed were contributed by EU Member State authorities.

The opening was attended by our Executive Director together with members of the Frontex Management Board and senior officials from Member State border management authorities.

The exhibition is part of a wider refurbishment of the Frontex's Operations Centre (OPC). Operational rooms used around the clock by Frontex staff were upgraded, a new crisis management room was put in use, and the facilities for officers working long shifts to coordinate border management activities across Europe were further improved.

Background information

The exhibition is located next to the agency's 24/7 OPC, which monitors the EU's external borders and coordinates operational activity around the clock, every day of the year. It serves as the coordination hub for Frontex's field deployments across Europe and beyond. It is one of the most visited spaces in the agency's headquarters, receiving close to a thousand visitors in 2025 alone, ranging from students to law enforcement, diplomats, and other officials. Frontex tracks developments across land, sea and air borders in real time and manages situational awareness across multiple active operations.

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