Twinning of units during the visit of the Chief of the Portuguese Army

Review of the formation at the Army Headquarters (Photo:Jesús De los Reyes/DECT)

The Chief of Staff being awarded a medal (Photo:Agregado militar en embajada Portugal)

A Portuguese military delegation, led by the Chief of the Staff of the Army, general Frederico José Rovisco Duarte, visited  the Army Headquarters in Madrid on 22 and 23 May.

On 22 May, the Chief of Staff of the Spanish Army, general Francisco Javier Varela Salas, welcomed the Portuguese ambassador and awarded him the first class San Jorge Cross.

On the following day, after the honours were awarded, a meeting took place at the Spanish Army Headquarters between the delegations from both countries. After the Portuguese Chief had signed the book of honours, there was a medal ceremony during which the Portuguese Chief and General Chaves Almeida Vasconcelos received the Great Cross of Military Merit of the Spanish Army.

Twinning of the units

During the meeting, the Spanish Army Chief and his Portuguese counterpart signed a document making official the twinning of the 11th “Extremadura” Brigade of Bótoa (Badajoz) and the Portuguese Army Mechanised Brigade, with its base in Santa Margarida, just 150 kilometres from the Badajoz base.

The twinning of the units has the aim of improving interoperability, as part of the Spanish Army Chief's initiative to twin each brigade unit with a similar brigade unit with one of the nations of greatest interest to Spain.

Other units in the process of being twinned are the “Rey Alfonso XII” Brigade, second in the Legion, with the 6th French Light Armoured Brigade, which would join the Army Airmobile Force (FAMET) with the Light Aviation of the French Army, and the 1st “Aragón” brigade with the “Pinerolo” Brigade of the Italian Army, amongst others.

With the goal of depeening shared knowledge, twinning involes a range of activities, from participating in exercises, to using facilities for instruction and training, exchanging knowledge, understanding and experiences, and other means of working together.