The images of the Spanish evacuation of Sudan with four Air Force planes

@DefAviation ES 4·24·2023 · 21:36 0

A few days ago there was a new coup in Sudan, at the hands of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitaries.

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Several European countries, including Spain, have organized evacuation missions for their citizens in Sudan. The Defense Staff (EMAD) has reported today that the Spanish evacuation device has been made up of 200 soldiers from the Air Force and the Land Army under the operational control of the Operations Command.

The evacuation mission began on Friday, April 21, with the arrival at the Djibouti airport of a first Airbus A400M Atlas aircraft, which was later joined by an Airbus A330 MRTT and two other A400Ms from the Army of the Air and Space, adding a total of four aircraft. Above these lines we can see the first Spanish A400M that arrived in Khartoum, together with the two VAMTACs of the Army that it transported. Below these lines we can see the three Spanish A400Ms on the Khartoum airport runway.

90 soldiers from the First Paratrooper Flag "Roger de Flor" of the 6th Brigade of Paratroopers "Almogávares" (BRIPAC) and the Special Operations Command (MOE) of the Army participated in this mission of Earth.

Along these lines we can see the two VAMTAC ST-5 vehicles of the Spanish Army deployed at the Wadi Seidna military airport, north of Khartoum aboard the first A400M (the 31-28 T.23 -08), arriving later the other A400M with the rest of the military personnel.

Below these lines we can see the cockpit of one of the Spanish A400Ms that participated in this operation.

In turn, the Spanish Air Force has deployed 80 members of Wing 31 (which includes the three A400M transport planes used in this mission), from the 45th Air Force Group (which operates the A330 MRTT used to transport evacuees to Spain), of the Air Deployment Support Squadron (EADA) and the Aeroevacuation Medical Unit (UMAER), as well as a reconnaissance and operational liaison team from the Operations Command (MOPS) and personnel from the Joint Special Operations Command and the JFAC (Joint Force Air Component).

In Djibouti, there has been the support of the 49 members of the Orion Detachment of the Air Force, who are participating in Operation Atalanta against piracy in the Horn of Africa. Support has also been received from military personnel from the US, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom deployed in Djibouti. Along these lines we can see two moments of the Spanish evacuation at the Khartoum airport, a high-risk scenario, since there has been fighting there, resulting in damage to some civilian planes.

"Once the security perimeter was established, the movement of the convoy began with civilian personnel from the Embassy to the aforementioned airport, where a patrol of the ground element went out to meet them to a safe area. Once there, the A400 transported more than 100 civilians to Djibouti", EMAD pointed out. "Of them, a total of 72 people have flown to Spain in an Airbus A330 and the rest has remained in Djibouti to return to their respective countries by other means".

Here we can see an image of the civilian personnel evacuated inside one of the Spanish A400Ms, planes that have once again demonstrated their worth and their capacity for this type of mission. This successful operation, in which the Spanish Armed Forces have once again demonstrated their ability to deploy over long distances -as happened in 2021 during the evacuation operation from Afghanistan-, has culminated in the evacuation of more than 100 people, including 34 of Spanish nationality and the rest from Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Portugal and Poland.

The arrival at the Torrejón Air Base of the A330 MRTT of the 45th Air Force Group this Monday, April 24, transporting the Spanish civilians evacuated from Sudan.

Personnel of the Air Police contemplating the reel of the A330 MRTT on the runways of Torrejón.

The Chief of the Defense Staff, General Admiral Teodoro Esteban López Calderón, has gone to the Torrejón Air Base to receive the evacuated civilians and the military personnel who accompanied them.

Civilians leaving the A330 MRTT. On the left we see two members of the Spanish Air Force's Air Deployment Support Squadron (EADA), which has participated in this mission as a protection force.

The descent of the plane of the civilians evacuated from Sudan. It has been an operation that, despite the high risk, has been carried out without casualties.

Some of the evacuees posing for a photo in Torrejón. Civilians of various nationalities have arrived on this flight.

Congratulations to the members of the Spanish Armed Forces who have participated in this mission. You are a source of pride for the Spanish people.

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Photos: Ministerio de Defensa.