Take-over of personnel deployed to Tactical Air Detachment ‘Orion’

• The D4 VIGMA maritime surveillance aircraft has already returned to Spain

The handover ceremony between the 50th and 51st contingents of the Tactical Air Detachment (DAT) ‘Orion’ in the European Union (EU) ‘Operation Atalanta’ based in Djibouti has already taken place.

The ceremony was presided over by Lieutenant Colonel Álvaro Álvarez Álvarez, representing the Operations Command, and it was attended by the ambassadors of the European Union and Germany, as well as other civilian and military authorities from the EU, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Japan, China, South Korea and Kenya.

At the ceremony, the outgoing Force Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Cesar Antonio Oliver Martorell, handed over command of the Spanish detachment to Major Carlos de Pablo González, ending the mission of the 50th Contingent after three months of deployment in the inter-monsoon period where a D4 VIGMA maritime surveillance aircraft, the MPA version of the CN-235 aircraft, has been operating and has now returned to national territory after completing its last mission in the Horn of Africa.

The DAT ‘Orion’ represents Spain's commitment to the fight against piracy in the western Indian Ocean, with the aim of protecting World Food Programme and United Nations (WFP) ships, as well as other vessels, mainly fishing boats, sailing in the area.

Spain has been the only EU country that has participated uninterruptedly in ‘Atalanta’ operation since its creation in 2008, establishing itself as a solid ally in the fight against armed violence at sea, helping to almost completely eliminate acts of piracy and greatly reduce illegal trafficking flows in the western Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.