An advanced and reinforced presence

3,025 kilometres ahead of them, 3.600 kilometres of sea; these are the distances that the personnel and equipment of the11^th “Extremadura” Brigade will have to cross in order to deploy in the new NATO mission, which will begin at the Adazi base, close to Riga in Latvia, in May.

On 27 April the new mission in the Baltic country was presented to the media at the Bótoa base (Badajoz). The chief of the 11th “Extremadura” Brigade, General Francisco J. Dacoba will lead the mission and lieutenant colonel Juan Castroviejo, the contingent chief, will leave for Latvia.

General Dacoba referred to the mission as a demonstration of solidarity between nations of the Atlantic Alliance and, also, of their capability and determination to take on and respond to whatever type of challenge presents itself.

Spain will send a mechanised tactic subgroup made up of approximately 300 men and women and 80 vehicles, within which the Leopard 2E combat tanks made in Spain are noteworthy and which, for the first time, will be used in a mission outside of Spanish territory, along with Pizarro infantry combat vehicles.

The Spanish contingent will be integrated into a multi-nation Battle Group led by Canada and made up of forces from Albania, Italy, Poland and Slovenia. The main mission that will be carried out will be continuous training to bring together and prepare the multinational Battle Group.

The preparation phase, as discussed by lieutenant colonel Juan Castroviejo, consisted in a training cycle, that included previous knowledge gained in the operations zone, meetings held in Canada, as well as in Latvia, and courses and exercises to help adapt to another type of environment and a more divided territory. Additionally, there will be various water-related courses and extreme climate courses, for which personnel from the Brigade has attended the Jaca Military Mountain School in order to prepare themselves for working in a cold environment, which will not only affect the personnel but also the equipment and its maintenance.

The use of these two combat tanks for the first time in this mission (Leopard and Pizarro) means the increase of logistics tasks, for which approximately 30% of contingent personnel specialises in logistics, mostly coming for the nº 61 Logistic Support Group and will be dedicated to provision, maintenance and transport tasks in Latvia.

A unit of sappers will also be incorporated into the contingent, who will lead the units of sappers of the Battle Group.

The rotations in air space will begin from May onwards and in sea transport from June. With 3,025 kilometres of air space, 3,600 kilometres of sea, this is the new mission that the Spanish Army will begin at the Adazi Base, Riga, Latvia.