The Special Operations Command Concludes Exercise 'Maderal'

The most important exercise in the Special Operations Command 19th Special Operations Group  ‘Caballero Legionario Maderal Oleaga’ annual trading programme took place from 4th to 15th June on Base ‘Alférez Rojas Navarrete’ in Rabasa (Alicante).

The Special Operations Group members planned and executed four operations in all, with the collaboration of a 12th Pontoneer and Engineering Specialties Regiment explosives deactivation team, a Paratroops Brigade reconnaissance patrol and the Army Helicopter Forces, which contributed two helicopters:  one attack and another for personnel transport.

One of these operations consisted of rescuing a hostage whose body had been attached to explosives.  A reconnaissance team spent several days monitoring the target in order to prepare for storming the house.  This took place at night, with the use of night vision goggles.  First, the sharp-shooters eliminated the sentry so the assault team could enter the home and rescue the hostage, who they left in the hands of the explosives deactivation team.

In another, two simultaneous actions were carried out:  while one team eliminated the leader of a terrorist organisation, captured two of his advisors alive and evacuated them in a Cougar helicopter, at another site the paratroopers carried out a high altitude jump in order to take control of another of the terrorist group’s installations.

The fourth consisted of the identification and subsequent attack on an installation where Improvised Explosive Devices were prepared.

The neutralisation of these targets would contribute to facilitating the subsequent entry in the country of a conventional force designed for a scenario in which the operation of various armed groups and terrorist organisations was simulated.