FGNE, the Green Berets of the Spanish Navy in action in the Indian Ocean

On February 4, the Spanish Navy's F-84 frigate "Reina Sofía" set sail from Rota Naval Base, heading for the Indian Ocean.

The images of the arrest of six pirates by the Spanish Navy in the Gulf of Aden
A spectacular exercise of the Spanish Special Naval Warfare Force in Galicia

The objective of the F-84 was to relieve the F-81 frigate "Santa María" as the command ship for Operation Atalanta of the European Union Naval Force (EUNAVDOR), a counter-piracy mission in which the Spanish Navy has been participating uninterruptedly since January 2009. Spain has been in command of this operation since March 2019, taking over from the United Kingdom. Its area of ​​action includes the Gulf of Aden and neighboring countries, including the port and city of Muscat (Oman), the coast of Somalia, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba.

On this mission, in addition to its crew, the frigate "Reina Sofía" carries on board personnel and means from other Navy units: an SH-60B Seahawk helicopter from the 10th Squadron, an unmanned aircraft (UAV) Scan Eagle from the 11th Squadron, a Special Operations Team of the Special Naval Warfare Force (FGNE) and a ROLE-2 medical team.

In this deployment, FGNE operators have been seen doing shooting exercises with Heckler & Koch HK416 rifles and Multicam camouflage pattern uniforms, on the frigate's flight deck.

The FGNE is the Spanish equivalent of the US Navy's famed Navy SEALs, the British Royal Navy's Special Boat Service (SBS), and the Polish Special Forces' JW Formoza. Like other Spanish special operations military units, the FGNE wears the green beret as its distinctive insignia. The FGNE's presence on this Spanish frigate offers top-level ship assault capabilities, both at sea and in the air, thanks to the SH-60B.

In this deployment, the FGNE has been able to share some good moments of camaraderie with operators of the WARFLOT, the Special Warfare Flotilla of the Republic of Korea Navy, embarked on the South Korean destroyer ROKS Gang Gam-chan (DDH-979), which we can see below these lines sailing alongside the Spanish frigate.

In March we were also able to see images of a joint exercise of this FGNE team with other units of the frigate, using RHIB boats.

This exercise included joint activity with the SH-60B helicopter, the Scan Eagle drone, and ROLE-2F medical equipment. In the image below, we see FGNE operators lifting a stretcher from a boat using the SH-60B's rescue hook.

On 20 March, EUNAVFOR released photos of a FGNE fast rope descent exercise from the SH-60B to the flight deck of the frigate "Reina Sofía".

These images revealed that the FGNE team aboard the frigate "Reina Sofía" belongs to the Third Fleet "Comanfes". Their distinctive patch appears on the left arm of the operator we see beginning the descent in this photo (click to enlarge).

The III Estol is one of the six basic combat units of the FGNE. The name "Comanfes" comes from the former special operations unit of the Spanish Navy, the Special Amphibious Commando (COMANFES), active between 1985 and 1990.

If you want to see more action, yesterday the EUNAVFOR YouTube channel for Operation Atalanta published a video of this team carrying out an assault exercise on the forecastle of the frigate "Reina Sofía" in the waters of the Indian Ocean:

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Photos: Armada Española / EUNAVFOR.