CAOC Torrejón’s Commander participates in the NATO Air Chiefs’ Symposium

• The Alliance’s challenges faces from an aerospace perspective will be analysed in the meeting

Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) Torrejón Commander, Lieutenant General Fernando de la Cruz, participated on September 28 and 29 in the "NATO Air Chiefs' Symposium" (NACS), held at the Allied Air Command Headquarters, in Ramstein (Germany).

The meeting, which is held twice a year, is attended by heads of NATO member nations' air and space forces, as well as the commanding generals of NATO Command Structure (NCS) units and representatives of NATO Partner Nations aiming aim to evaluate the contribution of aerospace power to strategic security and to develop those areas that allow greater cooperation and integration between the member countries of the Alliance.

This 2022 second meeting, in addition to analyzing current issues in the aerospace domain, other topics such as the Ukraine crisis, the incorporation of Finland and Sweden into NATO and the collaboration model between the Alliance and Eurocontrol were discussed.

Combined Air Operations Centre Torrejón

The main purpose of CAOC Torrejón, commanded by a Spanish Air Force Lieutenant General, is to plan, direct, coordinate, supervise, analyse and report on air defence operations in southern Europe following the directives of NATO's air component command with the assigned assets by NATO in peacetime.

The Spanish Armed Forces are making an important contribution to the mission conducted by this facility. Roughly 120 military personnel are assigned to the CAOC itself, as well as to the National Support Element (NSE) and the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA).