The Spanish contingent deployed in Poland takes part in exercise ‘Anakonda 16’

The Spanish contingent integrated into the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force is today joining exercise ‘Anakonda 16’, thus showing its commitment to the Alliance.

That contingent is made up of over 1,300 troops deployed in the Polish village of Świętoszów and at Camp Karliki in the Zagan training area. However, they will only take part in the first phase of ‘Anakonda 16’, since they are expected to start redeploying on 10 June, coinciding with the redeployment of Spanish exercise ‘Valiant Falcon 16’. The latter is taking place in Poland since 28 May, when the VJTF reached full operational capability.

‘Anakonda 16’ is led by the Polish Armed Forces and involves over 31,000 soldiers from most of the members of the Alliance. It is the largest exercise to take place in Poland in the last 25 years.

‘Valiant Falcon 16’, which comes to an end on 9 June, is a Command Post Exercise (CPX) in which the initial command element of the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force HQ and the advanced command post of the VJTF Brigade – made up by members of the 7th Light Infantry Brigade ‘Galicia’ – are training to integrate command and control procedures.

At the same time, the VJTF Brigade units are developing an ambitious programme of tactical exercises in order to reach an optimum training level. As well as the Spanish troops, they include a British light infantry battalion, a Polish mechanised battalion equipped with Leopard tanks and a US Apache helicopter unit.

The commander of the VJTF Brigade, General Luis Cebrián, highlighted the high degree of interconnectivity and collaboration achieved by the two Spanish headquarters, despite their different levels. “The work carried out by the two headquarters over more than 18 months made it possible for the exercise to develop smoothly and almost uneventfully,” he stressed.

Spain leads the VJTF in 2016. The new Allied force is characterised by its agility, interoperability, readiness and indivisibility and is available to the NATO Council to face any threat to Allied security wherever it might come from.

The Spanish contingent deployed in Poland takes part in exercise ‘Anakonda 16’