Spanish units deployed in Latvia achieve maximum integration within the eFP Multinational Battalion

• The Spanish contingent in the eFP operation is taking part in three major exercises of NATO's allied forces

For the Spanish military deployed in Latvia, the past three months have been a period of intense training, as three major exercises have been carried out to train, integrate, coordinate and prove the eFP Multinational Battalion's capabilities, especially in terms of combat power.

The first one was exercise 'Wolverine Forgeren'. Thanks to this drill, the units that make up the multinational battalion achieved the highest degree of interoperability, something outstanding, especially for a unit make up of almost a thousand troops and nine different nations. Another goal, not less important, was the ability to adapt to the extreme cold weather conditions of that region.

Exercise 'Crystal Arrow' was another demanding drill. The main and most important goal was to establish the necessary conditions to conduct an exercise, with more than 2,000 troops involved, on a COVID-19 free environment. To this end, a testing campaign was conducted ahead of the exrcise in order to ensure those troops were not infected.

Another major challenge during this exercise was the presence of a battalion-entity opposition force, led by Latvian military personnel and consisting of three tactical sub-groups provided by the US Army - eFP BG Poland component -, the German Army - eFP BG Lithuania component - and the Lithuanian Army, which, for two weeks, faced the multinational battalion of eFP Latvia.

This exercise featured a series of defensive and offensive actions, which were evaluated and refereed by a multinational team of "Observers and Controllers", led by Canada and in which Spain contributed with a total of nine officers from the X and XI Brigade.

The end of the activity matched with a display of the capabilities that allied units put at NATO's disposal within the operation "enhanced forward presence" - eFP - which could be witnessed by different diplomatic authorities present in Latvia, among which was the Spanish Ambassador, H.E. Ms. Susana Cámara Angulo.

Finally, during the second week of April, exercise 'Iron Spear' took place, in which several units of the eFP multinational battalions, in this case Latvia and Lithuania, conducted day and night firing exercises with tanks and infantry fighting vehicles.