Official visit of the Commander of the Combined Air Operations Centre Torrejón to Montenegro

• The main aim of the visit was to learn first-hand about the reality of the Montenegrin Air Force, its integration into NATO and its future plans.

Official trip of the Combined Air Operations Centre of Torrejón (CAOCTJ by its Spanish acronym) Commander, Lieutenant General Juan Pablo Sánchez de Lara, to the Republic of Montenegro.

The main objective of the visit was to learn first-hand about the reality of the Montenegrin Air Force, its integration into NATO and its future plans, especially those related to contributing to and supporting the Alliance's permanent airspace surveillance mission. This mission, known as NATINAMDS, is the oldest NATO mission, dating back to 1961.

The visit began with a meeting with the Chief of Defence of the Montenegrin Armed Forces, General Zoran Lazarević, who explained to General Sánchez de Lara the current situation and plans of the country in relation to the personnel and material of the Montenegrin Forces. This was followed by another meeting with the Secretary of State for Defence, Marko Marković, where a discussion was held on the Balkan country's current affairs and its relations with NATO and its member countries.

After these two meetings, the delegation headed to Podgorica Airport, also home to the Golubovci Air Base, where the headquarters of the Montenegrin Air Force is located. Lieutenant-Colonel Ljubinko Petić, the accidental head of the Montenegro Air Force, presented the highlights of the present and future of the Montenegro Air Force to the CAOCTJ Commander and its contribution to NATO's airspace surveillance mission. This airport is also home to the civilian agency responsible for air traffic control in Serbia and Montenegro (known by the acronym SMATSA), where Lieutenant General Sánchez de Lara learned about their work and the services and coordination with the military.

Montenegro is one of the countries represented in the CAOCTJ and is located in the Western Balkans, an area of great interest to NATO. The Alliance's values, particularly those of solidarity, cohesion and mutual trust, are fully applicable to this Balkan republic, being the way in which the Alliance functions and has worked during its 75 years of existence. In this way, peace and protection are provided to member states, with all the difficulties and challenges that this entails. Montenegro is a clear example of this as, lacking fighter aircraft, it relies heavily on its NATO partners to ensure the sovereignty and integrity of its airspace.

COMBINED AIR OPERATIONS CENTRE TORREJÓN (NATO)

The CAOC Torrejón, under the direct command of a Lieutenant General of the Spanish Air and Space Army, has as its main mission to plan, direct, coordinate, supervise, analyse and report on air defence operations in Southern Europe, following the directives of the NATO Air Component Command on which it depends and with the resources assigned to NATO by the nations in peacetime. 

The Spanish Armed Forces make an important contribution to the centre's mission. Around 120 military personnel serve in the CAOC itself as well as in the National Support Element (NSE) and the NATO Communications and Information Agency Unit (NCIA).