The landing of soldiers and vehicles of the Spanish Army in Szczecin, Poland

@DefAviation ES 2·21·2024 · 21:44 0

This Tuesday afternoon, a contingent of Spanish soldiers and military vehicles arrived at the port of the city of Szczecin, in Poland.

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The contingent is made up of 300 soldiers and about 90 vehicles of the Army, mostly belonging to the Brigade "Guzmán el Bueno" X, the Logistics Brigade (BRILOG) and the Regiment of Transmissions nº1 (RT 1). Its presence in Poland is due to exercise Steadfast Defender 2024, the largest maneuvers carried out by NATO since the Cold War.

As reported by the Polish military newspaper Polska Zbrojna, Spanish military vehicles arrived aboard the Ro-Ro ship "Blue Wave Harmony". This ship set sail on February 12 from Motril, in Spain, and made a stopover on Friday night at the British port of Falmouth, from where it continued its journey to Poland the following morning, arriving in Szczecin around 8:00 p.m. yesterday, according to Vesselfinder.com. Shortly before the arrival of the ship, the Spanish soldiers arrived at the Szczecin-Goleniów Airport.

The Spanish contingent includes Leopard 2E battle tanks, ASCOD Pizarro infantry combat vehicles, M-113 armored transports, a Leopard 2ER Búfalo recovery vehicle, Uro VAMTAC S-3 and ST-5 tactical vehicles, Santana Aníbal SUVs, Iveco-Pegaso M.250 trucks and an Iveco 40.10WM 4×4 ambulance, among other vehicles.

The Polish News Agency (PAP) has reported that the Spanish contingent is destined for the Drawsko Pomorskie maneuvering field, in the West Pomeranian voivodeship, northwest of Poland, where the 1st Warsaw Armored Brigade of the Polish Army, equipped with Leopard 2A5 tanks, is already deployed, as reported today by NATO's Brunssum Joint Command.

"We train very hard to become certified, to participate in these maneuvers and to be at the disposal of NATO", Lieutenant Colonel Julio Suárez Carrasco has declared to the PAP agency. This phase of the Steadfats Defender exercise is called Brilliant Jump 24 and will bring together 3,000 soldiers and about 700 vehicles from several countries in Drawsko Pomorskie. Most of the continent is made up of British, Polish and Spanish soldiers, but the participation of Albanian and Turkish soldiers is also expected. Furthermore, in the images released by PAP you can see German soldiers.

Polska Zbrojna has indicated that this exercise will take place until the end of February, and then the participating units will be under the command of the commander of the 11th Lubusz Armored Cavalry Division and will join "Dragon 2024"the largest military exercise scheduled by the Polish Army for this year. "Together with others they will head towards the eastern flank, crossing among other things the Vistula River," notes the Polish military newspaper.

According to Polska Zbrojna, the transfer to Drawsko Pomorskie is done in two ways: armored vehicles go by train and the rest of the vehicles go by road. This year it is expected that some 30,000 soldiers will pass through that Polish maneuver field due to this large NATO exercise. In total, the Steadfast Defender 24 exercise is planned to bring together some 90,000 soldiers from 31 Alliance member countries and Sweden. Below you can see some more photos of the Spanish landing in Poland.

Spanish Leopard 2E battle tanks of the Armored Regiment "Córdoba" No. 10 (RAC 10) of the Brigade "Guzmán el Bueno" X aboard the ship "Blue Wave Harmony", after its arrival in Szczecin. Next to him we see Spanish soldiers from the Logistics Brigade (BRILOG) with orange vests.

A Uro VAMTAC ambulance of the Infantry Regiment "La Reina" No. 2 (RI 2) of the "Guzmán el Bueno" X Brigade.

A Uro VAMTAC ST-5 with a SECOMSAT antenna of the Signals Regiment No. 1 (RT 1), at the time of landing.

Several ASCOD Pizarro infantry combat vehicles of the Infantry Regiment No. 2 "La Reina" (RI 2).

An Iveco 40.10WM 4×4 ambulance Health Group No. 1 (AGRUSAN 1), part of the Logistics Brigade.

A 2ER Buffalo Leopard recovery vehicle of the Armored Regiment "Córdoba" No. 10 (RAC 10) of the Brigade "Guzmán el Bueno" X.

Iveco-Pegaso M.250 trucks of the Spanish Army, after the landing in the port of Szczecin.

Santana Aníbal all-terrain vehicles of the Signals Regiment No. 1 (RT 1) and the Logistics Brigade (BRILOG).

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Image sources: Polska Agencja Prasowa / Polska Zbrojna / NATO Joint Force Command Brunssum.