New Army Airmobile Force's bilateral collaboration with the French Navy

One Cougar is about to land on the ship (Picture: FAMET)

Abseling from the helicopter (Picture: FAMET)

Two Cougars in the French ship (Picture: FAMET)

The Spanish Army Airmobile Force (FAMET in Spanish) has been again invited  in order to develop a bilateral activity with the National French Army, from the 16th to the 23rd of August, in the so-called mission "Corymbe".
This time, two Cougar helicopters (HT-27) and 18 soldiers boarded the helicopter-carrier Dixmude, in its way to the Strait of Gibraltar, with the aim of making all the expected exercises, allowing, in that way, the new Spanish Army Airmobile Force (FAMET) pilots' classification related to the land on ships, external load transports and "fast rope" abseling with French personal of The Special Operations Unit. Furthermore, it took place an exercise in Dakar, in which one platoon from the 2nd Regiment of the French Navy was carried by helicopters from the Dakar Harbour to a 50km shooting field.
On the other hand, this collaboration gave the oportunity to The Spanish Army Airmobile Force (FAMET) helicopters to make, without any kind of support, an automatic air deployment from Dakar to Seville, in a period of time of three days - from the 24th to the 26th of August - a mid-day fly with instrumental plans along the African coast, flying over Senegal, Mauritania, the western Sahara and Morocco. That 1.500 miles displacement has become the longest retreat without any support in the Spanish Army Airmobile Force's history.
The operative activities of the FAMET helicopters with the National French Navy ships have been carried out since the end of the year 2015. They are part of the "Corymbe" mission every year, during three months, in order to provide to the French troops with materials, from Mauritania to the Ivory Coast.
Thanks to these kind of collaborations, it is possible to develop a continuity in the integration of the FAMET together with the presence of the French ships, improving and motivating the operations between French units and the Spanish ones.