THE ARMED FORCES FINALIZE DETAILS FOR THE START OF OPERATION 'GALICIAN SENTINEL 22'

• The campaign, which begins on August 15 and ends on September 30, aims to collaborate in the prevention of forest fires

The Armed Forces are finalizing the details of the Operation 'Galician Sentinel 22', which was presented last Wednesday, August 10, at the facilities of the Helitransported Patrol Base of the Xunta de Galicia. The event was chaired by the Regional Minister of Rural Environment, José González Vázquez with the presence of different civil and military authorities, among them, the Government Subdelegate in Pontevedra Maica Larriba and the General Chief of the Brigade 'Galicia VII' and the Colonel Chief of the Marine Infantry's Tercio Norte, military units that deploy in the initial phase of the operation.

At the head of all the military forces participating in the operation will be General Luis Cortés Delgado, Chief of the BRILAT.

This operational deployment of ground patrols with a surveillance and deterrence mission, which will take place between August 15 and September 30, foresees a contribution of military resources, both personnel and means, articulated according to three levels of risk, medium, high and very high, linked to the seriousness of the situation at any given moment.

The operation starts at medium risk level, which implies an initial deployment of 30 ground patrols, three more than in previous years, two mobile maintenance teams and the presence of unmanned aerial means. The contribution of the BRILAT is 25 patrols, while the Tercio Norte de Infantería de Marina, based in Ferrol, provides 5 patrols. For this 2022 campaign, Maneuver Support Command personnel and assets are also participating in the operation with the deployment of remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS).

The surveillance capacity at the medium level is reinforced with the following Army unmanned aerial systems over the entire area of action:

• RAVEN system: with an autonomy of 90 minutes and a range of 15 km.
• PASI System (Sensorized Autonomous Intelligence Platform): with an autonomy of 15 hours and a range of 350 km from the control station (personnel and means of the Air Systems Procurement Group GROSA IV/1 based in León). 

These systems detect possible hot spots and provide the coordinates of these points, information that is provided to the prevention services of the Xunta de Galicia for surveillance, perimetric work and possible evolution of the outbreak.

There are also two helicopters in anticipation of being used when the Xunta de Galicia requests an increase in the level of effort from the Ministry of Defense, with one helicopter at the high level and two at the very high level. In addition, within this change in the level of effort, the number of patrols would be increased up to a maximum of 50 at the high level and up to a maximum of 75 at the very high level.

The patrols will carry out their surveillance and deterrence work in 33 municipalities distributed in 7 forest districts, as stated in the action protocol. At the request of the Xunta de Galicia, the effort of the patrols in each area may be modified and varied to adapt to the risk assessment.