The crossing of the Vistula River by the Spanish Army in some images from a Polish TV channel

@DefAviation ES 3·10·2024 · 20:35 0

We recently saw here images of the passage of the Vístura River by Spanish armored vehicles in the Steadfast Defender 2024 exercise.

The excellent photos of Spanish armored vehicles published by the Polish Army
The interview with the driver of a Leopardo 2E main battle tank of the Spanish Army

This NATO exercise, the largest since the Cold War, is taking place at the Drawsko Pomorskie training ground, in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, northwest of Poland, together with military units from other countries. of the Alliance. The Spanish units deployed there come from the Brigade "Guzmán el Bueno" X, the Logistics Brigade (BRILOG) and the Transmission Regiment No. 1.

A few days ago, the Polish regional channel TVRegionalna24.PL broadcast on YouTube images of the crossing of the Vistula River by Spanish armored vehicles of the "Guzmán el Bueno" Brigade, specifically Leopard 2E battle tanks and an ASCOD Pizarro infantry combat vehicle, on amphibious vehicles of a combat engineer unit of the French Army:

You can see some screenshots of this video here, with some notes on them.

Two Spanish Leopard 2E battle tanks during the crossing of the Vistula River. French amphibious vehicles carry a flag of their country.

The crew of a Leopard 2E getting into their tank upon reaching the other bank of the Vistula River. The passage is done with the entire crew outside the vehicle, for safety reasons. Thus, in the event of an accident and if the tank falls into the river, they do not run the risk of drowning inside.

The landing of a Spanish Leopard 2E. The French amphibious vehicle is an Engin de Franchissement de l'Avant (EFA), which is a mixture of a wheeled amphibious vehicle and a military bridge that is deployed for the passage of river currents.

Another Spanish Leopard 2E completing the crossing of the Vistula River, in this case on an M3 Amphibious Rig of the German Army. Like the French EFA, the M3 is a wheeled amphibious vehicle that deploys like a bridge.

A Spanish ASCOD Pizarro during the crossing of the Vistula River, in this case on a Polish Army pontoon.

Among the vehicles from other countries that appear in the video, the most numerous is the Leopard 2PL battle tank of the Polish Army, a modernized local version of the Leopard 2A4. Here we see one of them getting off an M3 Amphibious Platform of the German Army.

A French Army AMX-56 Leclerc battle tank, descending from a German M3 Amphibious Rig.

Among the most spectacular images in the video is a pass of two Sukhoi Su-22UM3K fighters of the Polish Air Force, belonging to the 21st Tactical Air Base in Świdwin. These aircraft of Soviet origin are the oldest fighters still in service in Poland.