On land and in the sky

The paratrooper capacity is part of the 6th ‘Almogaveres’ Brigade’s DNA, but its contribution to the 2020 Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF) is comprised of a unit, with support from the artillery and sappers.

The 6th ‘Almogávares’ Brigade’s paratrooper capacity is an idiosyncrasy which marks it as different from other units in the army. Having this capacity does not mean the Brigade has sacrificed in other areas. Instead, it is an extra which is added on top of the other capacities which every combatant must possess.

This is proven by the fact that the Brigade can be designated to carry out missions which have nothing to do with parachute jumps or infiltrations. For example, they are currently contributing to NATO’s VJTF, which will be in its readiness phase throughout 2020.

Specifically, the paratroopers of the 6th ‘Almogávares’ Brigade will contribute the II/4 ‘Roger de Lauria’ Protected Infantry unit – equipped with the tactical mobility and protection offered by vehicles such as the Lynx, RG-31s or VAMTACs – to the Force, whose land element is led by the 21st Mechanised Mountain Brigade from the Polish Army. Furthermore, they will contribute a Battery from the 6th Campaign Artillery Group and a Company from the 6th Sapper Battalion. These forces from the Tactical Group have dedicated the first semester of the year to the national training phase. The culmination of this phase was the Evaluation/Certification exercise which they faced at the end of May in the ‘Chinchilla’ Training Centre in Albacete.

Before leaving for the manoeuvre ground, they passed the administrative phase, which consisted of an Organizational Review of the enlisted personnel, equipment, weapons and vehicles as well as the documentary part in the ‘Principe’ base in Madrid and the ‘Santa Bárbara’ barracks (in Javali Nuevo, Murcia) on the 15th and 16th of May.

The review was carried out by an evaluating team, made up of staff from the Chief of Staff of the Brigade, following NATO criteria for this type of proceeding. To check this, an observer from the Bulgarian Army was sent from the Headquarters of NATO’s Land Component Control, situated in Izmir (Turkey), to accompany them. He was joined by another comrade from the US Army during the training level evaluation which took place in ‘Chinchilla’, in which the manoeuvre unit and all its support carried out offensive/defensive operations. The actions took place in a conventional/hybrid setting situated in central Europe, as in previous operations.

The Polish Brigade will find itself with units which, should the VJTF 2020 be activated, would be under their control for the ‘Dragon’ exercise (which is already in the international training phase) in June in their own country. Usually, this starts in the second semester of the year before they go on stand-by. On this occasion, this has been moved forward to the start of the summer. This change means that “it’s not training for use,” says Colonel Herrero, chief of the 4th ‘Naples’ Regiment and director of the army. In spite of the fact that the periods are shorter, the Brigade’s units are prepared to face the new phase in which the unit’s top brass will go to Poland to integrate in joint exercise response cells.