Spanish Army on SWIFT RESPONSE 2024

More than 480 Spanish soldiers have participated in the key NATO SWIFT RESPONSE 2024 multinational manoeuvres in Europe.

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Press Release, Madrid, 16 May 2024: [auto-translated] The Spanish Army successfully concluded its participation in the SWIFT RESPONSE 24 exercise, which is part of the series of STEADFAST DEFENDER 24 exercises, with the completion of the withdrawal of the participating units scheduled for May 24. This exercise, carried out in several locations in Europe, including Hungary, Romania and Sweden, has sought to strengthen the interoperability and rapid response capacity of allied forces in crisis situations, thus reaffirming the collective commitment to deterrence and defence of the territory of the Alliance.

More than 5,000 soldiers from various NATO nations have participated in SWIFT RESPONSE 24, with Spain contributing 480 soldiers, from the Parachute Brigade (BRIPAC), the Airmobile Forces of the Army (FAMET) and the Procurement Group by Air Systems No. 4 (GROSA IV) of the Intelligence Regiment No. 1. For the occasion, the FAMET has deployed five helicopters in Romania, including a CH-47 Chinook, two NH-90 and two Tiger attack helicopters, and the GROSA IV has provided a PASI (Plataforma Autónoma Sensorizada de Inteligencia – Autonomous Sensorised Intelligence Platform) flight unit. The latter has been a milestone in the history of the Group, as it is the first time it has deployed the PASI system in a foreign country after returning from Afghanistan.

With this deployment of resources, the versatility and capacity of the Spanish air units in multinational operations has become clear. In addition, during the exercise, operations with Spanish participation have included launches from the Papa air base in Hungary to the Turda area in Romania, and from the Aviano base in Italy to Hagshult in Sweden.

The highlight of the exercise for the Spanish troops was the parachute jump in Turda, Romania, together with units from Germany, the United States, France and the Netherlands. Additionally, in Sweden, BRIPAC paratroopers conducted significant tactical manoeuvres, culminating in an exchange of ‘rokiskis‘ (airborne ‘wings’) with American paratroopers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, symbolising the strong camaraderie among the allied forces.

The SWIFT RESPONSE 24 exercise has not only improved the tactical skills of the participating units, but has also served once again to demonstrate Spain’s commitment to NATO and the collective defence of Europe. The excellent coordination and collaboration between participating nations underscores the importance of interoperability for regional security.

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Editor’s Footnote: SWIFT RESPONSE 24 began with six near-simultaneous joint forcible entries (JFE) into Estonia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, and Sweden. Although there have been larger individual exercise JFE parachute drops by US Airborne Forces with NATO Allies (most notably the US-led JOINT WARRIOR 96 over Fort Bragg with the UK’s 5 Airborne Brigade and the Polish-led ANAKONDA 16 multinational mass drop over Torun) the geographical spread, complexity and total number of participants put SR24 in a class of its own.