The Spanish Army completes preparations and begins deployment for NATO’s largest exercise in 2026

Vehicle embarkation

The Spanish Army (ET) units taking part in Exercise Steadfast Dart 26 (STDT26) have begun movement operations for their deployment to Germany, the host country for this year’s edition.

The Spanish Army (ET) contributes to the land domain (Land Component Command – LCC) of the Allied Reaction Force (ARF) with the “Almogávares” VI Parachute Brigade, which provides the Italian ARF brigade with an infantry battalion, a MISTRAL air defense artillery battery with the capability to integrate into the NATINAMS (NATO Integrated Air and Missile Defense System), a field artillery battery, an engineer company, and a logistics unit as the national support element. In addition, the ET’s airmobile forces contribute to the Italian helicopter battalion with a unit composed of two NH90 aircraft.

For its part, the Special Operations Command contributes support personnel to the Special Operations Component Command Headquarters, as well as a signals unit reinforced with personnel from the Navy and the Air and Space Force, a Special Operations Land Task Group (SOLTG), a logistics support unit to the special operations headquarters, a helicopter unit composed of two Cougar-type aircraft, and a deployment support unit.

Convoy

The projection of the units to the exercise area involves a national deployment to the ports of embarkation (Cartagena and Santander), followed by a strategic deployment combining land, sea, and air transport, both civilian and military (including the Spanish Army logistics vessel Ysabel).

Once in Germany, the units will begin the Reception, Staging, and Onward Movement (RSOM) phase, during which they will move to the Trauen and Hohne training areas, followed by a phase of integration into the different task organizations.

STDT26 concludes with a Distinguished Visitors Day in Bergen.

Afterwards, the Spanish units integrated into the Land Component Command will continue their training in Germany by taking part in Exercise Quadriga 26—a German Army exercise—for another four days, followed by a Spanish exercise scheduled at the Hohne Training Center until the first days of March. The strategic redeployment to the units’ home bases will then begin.

In numerical terms, approximately 750 military personnel, 230 vehicles, and 25 containers with Spanish Army equipment and materiel will participate in the exercise. The exercise is scheduled by the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and directed by Joint Force Command Brunssum (JFCBS), and aims to train the planning and execution of the ARF 25 operational deployment as the initial entry force in a multi-domain scenario.

Helicopter refueling