The formation flight of fighters of Spain and Germany over Naval Station Rota

This Tuesday, May 7, the Rota Naval Base was the scene of a colorful formation flight of military aircraft from Spain and Germany.

A spectacular video of an Alpha Scramble with Eurofighter aircraft from Spain and Germany
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The reason for this flight was the beginning of the Pacific Skies 2024 deployment, in which 28 combat aircraft and 16 large tanker and transport aircraft from Spain, Germany and France will fly around the world from June 26 to 15 of August.

The aircraft participating in this deployment will be the following:

• Spain: 4 Eurofighter (2 from the 14th Wing of Albacete and 2 from the 11th Wing of Morón), 2 A400M from the 31st Wing (Zaragoza) and 1 A330 from Group 45 (Torrejón), in addition to personnel from the two Air Deployment Support Squadrons (EADA). and SEADA).
• Germany: 8 Eurofighter, 12 Tornado, 4 A400M and 4 A330 MRTT.
• France: 4 Rafale, 3 A400M and 2 A330 MRTT.

This Tuesday, the frigate "Baden-Württemberg" F222 of the German Navy set sail from Naval Station Rota to take part in this deployment as a support ship.

As a farewell, a formation of a Spanish A400M (the T.23-10), two Spanish Eurofighters from Ala 11 (the two-seater CE.16-03 11- 03 and the single-seat C.16-27 11-27) and two German Eurofighters (both single-seat, 31+21 and 31+22, from the 73rd Steinhoff Tactical Fighter Wing, based in Rostock-Laage) made several passes over the Spanish base. Another Eurofighter was flying at a higher altitude, probably collecting images of the formation.

The United States Navy has published two sets of photos about this flight taken by Specialists 2nd Class Conner D. Blake and Ryan Brown. The Luftwaffe and the German Navy they have also published photos of this farewell, which you can see in this entry.

The frigate "Baden-Württemberg" has set sail with the Bravo crew of the 4th Frigate Squadron, as reported by the German Navy. She has 180 sailors on board. On the same day, the replenishment ship "Frankfurt am Main" A1412 set sail from Wilhelmshaven, Germany, to participate in this deployment.

The formation of Spanish and German aircraft over Rota. In the foreground we see the Amphibious Assault Ship "Castilla" L-52 of the Spanish Navy.

An enlargement of the previous photo. The US Navy has published these photos with high resolution, allowing you to enjoy great detail. You can see below the rest of the photos published by the aforementioned sources.

+ UPDATED 9.5.2025 8:05 p.m.: The Spanish Air Force has published a video of this flight today: