Allied paratroopers jump together above León

Paratroopers from the USA, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland and Portugal joined with their Spanish equivalents in the biggest joint military paratrooper infiltration exercise to take place in Europe – the ‘Lone Paratrooper’ - organised and led by the 6th ‘Almogáveres’ Paratrooper Brigade, which was carried out from the 6th to the 14th of May in the ‘Virgen del Camino’ Basic Air Academy in León.

As well as representatives from the Spanish Army – the Advanced Recognition Company from the 6th Brigade and Special Operations Command –, Spain was represented by the Paratrooper Sapper Squadron from the Air Force and members of the Special Operations Group from the National Police, who also took part.

They were all able to practice and exchange launching procedures at high altitude - 25,000 ft  - using oxygen, opening the parachutes at high altitude (HAHO) and at low altitude (HALO).

They jumped from planes belonging to the Air Force (C-130 from Ala 31 and C-295 from Ala 35), the US Marines based in Morón (1 C-130), and a Dutch aircraft.

The objective of the ‘Lone Paratrooper’ exercise is to train the participating personnel in paratrooper infiltration techniques and share experiences with soldiers from other countries who use different procedures, in order to promote interoperability which will facilitate future joint missions.

One of the exercise’s jumps