Raid on a ship at a Special Operations Command exhibition for Armed Forces Day

Treating a casualty during the simulation (Photo: MOE)

Rigid inflatable boats were used in the simulation (Photo: MOE)

The divers are extracted by Chinook (Photo: MOE)

Special Operations Command (known in Spain by the acronym MOE) staged an exhibition at the Volvo pier in Alicante on 21 May on the occasion of Armed Forces Day. Its main event was the simulation of an assault on a ship being used by a terrorist organisation to transport weapons and explosive material in order to carry out attacks.

The MOE operation teams had to locate and capture the leader of the terrorist cell, find evidence which could be used to incriminate him in a court of law and destroy both the arsenal and the ship. Divers with oxygen equipment (to avoid bubbles which might reveal their presence) took part in the exhibition alongside two assault teams: the first arrived by helicopter and fast-roped onto the deck of the ship; the second, aboard high performance rigid hull inflatable boats. During the confrontation a member of one of the operation teams was hurt and had to be treated on the scene, thus demonstrating battlefield medicine.

After capturing the terrorist cell leader and placing explosive charges to blow up the ship, the members of the teams returned to their boats and the divers were extracted by helicopter using the SPIE system.

Pledge of Allegiance and static exhibition

Nearly 1,500 people attended this exhibition, which took place after a Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Special Operations Command, the 72nd Artillery Regiment and the 1st Intelligence Regiment contributed the flags, and the pledge involved around 500 civilians – including government representative Juan Carlos Moragues and the president of the provincial council, César Sánchez. In addition, a static exhibition of Special Operations equipment could be visited throughout the day.

The day’s activities also included a concert by the Music Unit of NATO’s High Readiness Headquarters, held at the auditorium of Alicante’s provincial council in the afternoon.

In previous days, the commanders of MOE and of the 4th Special Operations Group, General Demetrio Muñoz and Lt. Col. Pedro Herguedas, gave lectures on MOE and on the Spanish Armed Forces at the conference hall of the University of Alicante.