8th Active Fence

After the crisis in Syria and as requested by Turkey, the NATO decided to increase its air defence capacities against ballistic missiles coming from Syria by deploying units of surface-to-air PATRIOT missiles for the development of antimissile defence operations.

The Council of Ministers of the 26th of December of 2014, which extended the participation of units and observants in operations abroad, approved the participation of an Anti-Aircraft Artillery Defense Unit over a base of a Spanish Army’s surface-to-air missile ‘PATRIOT’, apart from the necessary personnel of support, which formed a contigent of 130 effectives.

The Spanish Patriot unit, based on the 73th Anti-air Artillery Regiment deployed in the Incirlik Air Base, Adana (Turkey), carried out the relieving ceremony between the AT-VII and AT-VIII contingents on 20th July 2018.

The General Chief of the Anti-air Artillery Command, Iñigo Pareja Rodríguez, presided a simple but touching act that was accompanied by Colonel Chief of U.S.  39th Air Base Wing, Second Chief of Incirlik Air base, representatives from the General Headquarters of the Turkish Air Force and the Chief of the NATO CIS detachment.

During the act, lieutenant colonel José Alberto Muñoz Martínez, that replaces lieutenant colonel  Manuel César Arienza Fernández dedicated a few words to all those present, highlighting the commitment that this mission represents before our NATO allies, and how challenging it is to improve the extraordinary level reached by the former contingents.

The former force comes back home after having provided 24/7 antimissile defence to the town of Adana for six months, which requires a high level of technical expertise, as well as the capacity to provide immediate response to attacks with ballistic missiles.