The CAOC Torrejón welcomes the Peruvian Army’s Senior Command Course

The event was attended by Major General Francisco Javier Costa Gallegos, commander of the Army’s Education and Doctrine Command in Lima

50 officers from the Peruvian Army’s Senior Command Programme have visited the CAOC Torrejón as part of the activities scheduled for this academic year by Nebrija University.

On their arrival, they were welcomed by the commanding officer of CAOC Torrejón, Lieutenant General Juan Pablo Sánchez de Lara, who accompanied them throughout the visit and gave a talk on the unit’s operations and missions.

This visit forms part of the Master’s degree in Geopolitics taught at the Army’s Education and Doctrine Command (COEDE) in Lima, which includes a one-week trip abroad. On this occasion, Spain was chosen, and Nebrija University has been responsible for organising the activities and visits.

The group of students comprised colonels from the Peruvian Army and a colonel from the Peruvian Air Force. On this occasion, they were accompanied by a group of generals led by Major General Francisco Javier Costa Gallegos, commander of the COEDE in Lima; the military attaché at the Peruvian Embassy in Spain; and the programme directors from Nebrija University.

The lecture given by the commander of CAOC Torrejón covered general aspects of NATO’s organisation and the unit’s position within the Air Component (AIRCOM); the functions and responsibilities entrusted to the unit; the multinational personnel who make up the unit; and the current missions taking place in South-West Europe, the area of responsibility of CAOC Torrejón.

Lieutenant General Juan Pablo Sánchez de Lara emphasised that “the purpose of combined air operations is to defend NATO’s airspace, ensuring its integrity 24 hours a day through constant surveillance, early warning and a coordinated response from the allied nations”. “The Alliance’s strength lies in interoperability and the joint action of multinational forces under a common chain of command, shared doctrine, procedures and a common defence culture, all in the service of stability and security in the Euro-Atlantic area.”

The event highlighted the value of Euro-Atlantic cooperation and its outreach to Ibero-American partners, emphasising the importance of sharing strategic knowledge, best practice and defence culture between the armed forces on both sides of the Atlantic.

At present, representatives from 18 nations are based at the CAOC Torrejón, which serves as an essential pillar in the defence of NATO’s values: to guarantee, in a spirit of solidarity and unity, the defence and security of our nations within the Alliance, alongside the other members of the Euro-Atlantic area.

The CAOCT is one of the command centres forming part of the Integrated Air and Missile Defence System (IAMDS), whose main mission is to plan, direct, coordinate, supervise, analyse and report on air defence operations in southern Europe, in accordance with the directives of the NATO Air Component Command, to which it reports, and using the resources that member nations allocate to NATO in peacetime.

The visit reaffirms the shared commitment to strengthening institutional ties between NATO, Spain and its Ibero-American partners, thereby contributing to interoperability, strategic dialogue and the consolidation of a common defence culture geared towards international stability and security.

The Spanish Armed Forces make a significant contribution to the mission carried out by this centre. Around 120 Spanish military personnel are serving both at the CAOC itself and within the National Support Element (NSE) and the NATO Communications and Information Agency Unit (NCIA).