The Prince Visits Exercise 'Machete'

The Prince of Asturias has today attended the undertaking of a hostage rescue operation executed by 3rd Special Operations Group "Valencia", in the context of the 2011 exercise "Machete".

Accompanied by the Chief of the Army Staff, Army General Coll, and the commander of the Special Operations Command, General Francisco Arribas, he headed for the Command Post in order to attend a presentation on the tactical theme that he was then going to witness.

At the observation post, situated beside the Tibi reservoir in the mountains of Alicante, the scenario of the activity, television screens were set up from which Prince Felipe could follow the first part of the exercise, which consisted of infiltration by an operational diving team equipped with oxygen tanks (which do not release bubbles and for this reason are more difficult to detect) until reaching a dam.

After eliminating the sentry who was guarding this area, the guerrillas rappelled down the wall of the dam. Their aim was to free the civilian who was being held hostage in a nearby cave.

In the second part of the exercise, the objective was to capture the leader of a criminal cell that was responsible for the kidnapping, who was hiding in a house. For the attack, two transport helicopters carried the Special Operations Group members, who descended by rope to the ground (using the fast-rope technique) and two other attack helicopters supported their advance with the collaboration of sharp-shooters, who eliminated the insurgent guarding the entrance to the home.

In the midst of the attack, one of the criminals managed to escape in a vehicle, but was intercepted and captured by another of the operational teams a short distance away.

At the end of the practical exercise, the Prince went to the house in order to learn the details of the sequence and greet those who had intervened (in all 50 Special Operations Group guerrillas), where he showed interest in each one’s specific equipment: the ropes and anchorage from those who had carried out rappelling down the dam, the divers’ respiration equipment or the Sharp shooters’ Accuracy rifles.

To bring to a close his visit, he greeted a delegation of autonomous government authorities, led by the president of Valencia, Mr. Alberto Fabra.