The Spanish helicopters damaged in the USA are not the only thing that needs repairing

Those of us who follow information channels from the armed forces of different countries often find something missing in the case of Spain.

Marines shows a Spanish landing on the East Coast of the United States
The damage caused by a storm at the American Naval Air Station of Norfolk

On June 17th you could see here a series of photos that were published by the Spanish Defense Staff (EMAD) and the US Marines, reflecting the activity of the Expeditionary Combat Group "Despliegue Atlántico 26" of the Spanish Navy, currently deployed in the United States.

This photo of an AS-532 Cougar transport helicopter of the Spanish Army's Airmobile Forces (FAMET) was published by the EMAD on June 9th, in a report indicating that this combat group included "HT-27 'Cougar' and HA-28 'Tiger' helicopters of the Spanish Army", without specifying their number. These helicopters could be seen by those who visited the aircraft carrier "Juan Carlos I" in Vigo at the end of May during the Armed Forces Day celebrations. These aircraft crossed the Atlantic aboard that ship.

On June 15, the EMAD published a new report on that deployment. This time, there was no mention of the FAMET helicopters, nor were there any photos of them. The same occurred with a new report published by the EMAD on June 29 about that deployment.

On June 16, the U.S. Marine Corps released a series of photos taken on the 13th, including these two photos of FAMET helicopters (an EC-665 Tiger attack helicopter in the first and an AS-532 Cougar in the second, in this case alongside a Navy SH-60F) participating in a Spanish amphibious landing at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, a major Marine base. These were the last photos we had of those helicopters until yesterday.

Yesterday, Major General (Ret.) Rafael Dávila Álvarez posted these two photos on his Twitter account, along with this text: "Who at @Defensagob can explain what happened to our Cougar and Tiger helicopters in New York? A typhoon? Negligence?" Some people claimed they were French helicopters and that the photos were from 2024, but the FAMET emblem is clearly visible on the nose of the Cougar.

The mystery surrounding the incident was solved yesterday at 8:11 PM CET. Marina Pina published in El Mundo: "Three Spanish Army helicopters damaged in the United States during an Independence Day commemoration exercise." According to the newspaper's report, the damaged helicopters were two EC-665 Tigers and one AS-532 Cougar.

According to a brief note sent by the EMAD to some media outlets (I assume only those that contacted the General Staff to inquire about this issue), which was disseminated by Izan González, defense expert for El Español, at 9:50 p.m., the EMAD stated:

"On June 14, during the execution phase of Exercise FLEETEX 250, a spontaneous atmospheric phenomenon (microburst) occurred, unforeseen by meteorological services, which damaged three Spanish Army helicopters stationed at Marine Corps Base New River.

The helicopters were stationed while preparing to conduct training exercises with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit during the aforementioned exercise, which was designed to strengthen interoperability with allied air and naval forces."

So, three Spanish helicopters were damaged in the US on June 14th, and we didn't find out until July 7th. And if we finally learned anything about it yesterday, it's because a retired general released two photos that were likely sent to him by a colleague still on active duty. Up to this point, no public channel from the Ministry of Defense or the Armed Forces has said anything about it: neither websites nor social media accounts. It's as if the incident never happened.

Things are handled very differently in other countries. Three years ago, when a US Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft ran off the runway in Hawaii, the US Armed Forces themselves released images of the aircraft the following day, and also a video of its recovery that I published on this blog.

In Spain, we have a government that breaks records for ignored transparency complaints, and this way of understanding the relationship with citizens ends up being transmitted to all levels of administration, including the military. Our military personnel follow orders, and obviously this is not their responsibility, but rather the responsibility of those who issue those orders. In a democratic country, where citizens have the right to be fully informed about public affairs, events like the one that occurred on June 14 should be communicated immediately and not be the subject of rumors for weeks, as I know has happened in this case.

A weather-related accident involving three helicopters is not impossible: something worse happened at Naval Base Norfolk due to a storm four years ago. In a democracy, we citizens have the right to be informed about what happens to the military equipment we pay for. Some still fail to grasp such a basic fact. The three damaged helicopters must be repaired, and so must the opacity of our government.