Spanish soldiers from the Tercio de Armada fly in Marines' Ospreys in the United States

The Spanish Navy's "Despliegue Atlántico 26" Expeditionary Combat Group is having extensive experiences in the USA.

Two spectacular photos of United States Marines with a Spanish SH-60F helicopter
Photos of the Spanish frigate 'Blas de Lezo' in Norfolk, the world's largest naval base

This deployment is part of the multinational exercise Fleetex 250, organized by the United States to commemorate the 250th anniversary of its independence. As we have seen in recent days, in addition to five ships and several aircraft, this group includes 700 soldiers and 75 vehicles from the Spanish Marine Corps' Third Marine Corps (TEAR), the expeditionary force of the Spanish Marines. We recently saw them land at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and this week we had the opportunity to see their participation in a VERTREP exercise of the 10th Squadron of the Flotilla of Aircraft (FLOAN).

This Friday and Saturday, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) released two series of photos (here and here) taken by Corporal Channah Chilton during an airborne infiltration exercise of Spanish soldiers from the TEAR aboard Marines' MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft at the USMC base in Camp Lejeune.

The MV-22B Osprey is an aircraft with tiltrotor engines that give it vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability, but with a flight speed typical of fixed-wing aircraft with turboprop engines. It is a very suitable solution for the US Navy's Wasp-class LHDs, ships very similar to the Spanish amphibious aircraft carrier "Juan Carlos I" L-61.

The Ospreys participating in this exercise belong to the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261 (VMM-261) "Raging Bulls", a USMC unit founded on April 5, 1951 and based at MCAS New River, North Carolina, on the East Coast of the USA.

The Raging Bulls have participated in the Vietnam War and five other wars. They initially flew Sikorsky HRS-1 Chickasaw, HUS-1 Seahorse, and UH-34D Choctaw helicopters. In 1966, they received their first CH-46 Sea Knight tandem rotors, a model they flew for no less than 42 years, until receiving the MV-22D Osprey in 2008. Currently, the unit is attached to the 26th Marine Aircraft Group, part of the 2nd Marine Air Wing.

In the images of this exercise released by the USMC we can see Spanish soldiers of the TEAR wearing M09 arid pixelated camouflage uniforms and the coyote brown accessories recently debuted by the Spanish Marines during their deployment in Romania.

In this series of images we can see the TEAR soldiers with Heckler & Koch HK416 assault rifles, recently acquired and of 5.56 mm caliber, in addition to Instalaza C90 rocket launchers.

In addition to the Marines' MV-22Bs, these photos also show a Spanish SH-60F Seahawk helicopter, assigned to the 10th Squadron and part of the Spanish contingent deployed to the United States for this exercise. The Foxtrot version of the Seahawk is used by the Spanish Navy for tactical troop and cargo transport, special operations, and medical evacuation, among other missions.

This is not the first time the Spanish Marines have flown in USMC Ospreys. Two years ago, we already saw here an exercise with Spanish soldiers from the TEAR in Poland using these tiltrotor aircraft, in that case belonging to squadron VMM-365, and in 2025 the TEAR also flew in the MV-22B on a visit to the United States during the deployment of the Expeditionary Combat Group (GCE) "Dédalo" 25. On that occasion the MV-22Bs belonged to VMM-261, the same USMC unit with which the TEAR has flown this week.

---

Photos: U.S. Marine Corps.