The NATO Centre of Excellence in Spain Receives the Prince

The Prince following his arrival at the Centre of Excellence (Photo:Ángel Manrique/Army Communication Department)

The Joint Chief of the Defence Staff accompanied Prince Felipe during the visit (Photo:Ángel Manrique/ Army Communication Department)

His Royal Highness with servicepersons posted at the Centre (Photo:Ángel Manrique/ Army Communication Department)

The Prince of Asturias today has visited the NATO Counter Impovised Explosive Devices Centre of Excellence, which is situated on the grounds of the Army Engineer Academy, in Hoyo de Manzanares (Madrid).
 

Prince Felipe, accompanied by the Joint Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral García Sánchez, was received by the director of the centre,  Colonel Santiago San Antonio. The Academy’s commandant, General Antonio González, was also present in the receiving line that formed after the official honours to the Heir to the throne, as well as the commander of the Army Base Department, General José L. Álvarez Espejo, among others.
 

Following a presentation on the capabilities and missions of the Counter Improvised Explosive Devices Centre of Excellence, His Highness visited one of the laboratories for analysis and testing of Improvised Explosive Devices, and subsequently attended a meeting that was being held at that moment in the installations of the NATO working group dealing with these areas.
 

After this, a family photo was made with the members of the Centre of Excellence, who received accreditation of NATO, which so designated it in October 2010.
 

Spanish Majority
 

At present there are 54 experts in all posted, belonging to the various nationalities integrating the centre: Spain, Germany, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania –the six countries initially joining- , the United States and Hungary –which joined at the beginning of 2011-.
 

Nearly half of these are Spaniards, principally Army, Navy and Air Force service personnel, although there are also representatives from the National Security Corps and Forces. 
 

The Counter Improvised Explosive Devices Centre focuses on the education and training of personnel designated to combat this threat, the improvement of prevention and elimination capabilities by means of experimentation and doctrine development, as well as the validation of procedures.  To this end, it is organised into three areas: explosive device defeat (combat and elimination), network attacks (prevention) and the area of force preparation (training).
 

With this one, there are now 16 NATO Centres of Excellence, in addition to five others that are undergoing the accreditation process.