Active Fence VII

After the crisis in Syria and the request of Turkey, the NATO decided to increase its air defense capacities against ballistic missile from Syria through the deployment of land-air missiles units ‘PATRIOT’ for the development of missile-defense 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 participation of the Spanish Patriot has been extended until the 31st of December of 2017.

A contingent, in its majority belonging to the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Defense (MAAA), has made up the seventh rotation of the Operation of Support to Turkey’s deployment (A/T). Since the airports of Madrid and Valencia took off to the Air Base of Incirlik, close to the city of Adana (Turkey), where the NATO decided the deployment of the Spanish PATRIOT unit. The general of the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Defense, together with a large group of friends and relatives, saw the members of this seventh rotation off, wishing the best in the performance of the entrusted mission.

In this seventh rotation, the 73th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Defense Regiment is still the Unit of the Generating Base, contributing with the biggest number of personnel in this contingent, which is completed with soldiers from the 71st Air-Defense Artillery Regiment, the 74th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Defense Regiment, the  Signals Unit of the MAAA, the Staff of the MAAA and the 94th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Defense Regiment.

With the seventh Spanish contingent in the  Support to Turkey mission (“Apoyo a Turquía” in Spanish), it is obvious the permanent contribution of the Spanish Armed Forces to the NATO, organization which guarantees the security out and inside Spain.