The Spanish Navy’s Fleet Amphibious and Force Projection Group heads towards Turkey to attain NATO Certification

Last September 6th, after having participated in a Naval Review presided over by His Majesty the King, to celebrate the 500 years of the first circumnavigation of the globe, the Spanish Navy warships ‘Juan Carlos I’, ‘Castilla’ and ‘Navarra’, began their transit to Turkey to join NATO’s naval exercise DYNAMIC MARINER/MAVI-BALINA-22.

During this twelve-day exercise, the Alliance will assess the Staff of the Fleet’s Amphibious and Force Projection Group (COMGRUPFLOT in its Spanish initials) for certification as NATO High Readiness Amphibious Force Command throughout 2023.

The annual DYNAMIC MARINER exercise is one of the main exercises conducted by the Atlantic Alliance in the maritime domain. In this year's edition, the exercise has been combined with the Turkish Navy's exercise MAVI-BALINA, with a total of 38 Allied ships participating in the event. The Spanish Navy is deploying a total contingent of approximately 1,400 troops.

Once in the theater of operations, the Turkish Navy’s amphibious ship TCG ‘Bayraktar’ and a battalion of marines from the same country will join the Spanish task group where the LHD ‘Juan Carlos I’ will operate with transport helicopters and ‘Harrier’ VTOL aircraft.

The combination of warships with fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and embarked marines, is a vital element for deterrence in crisis situations, since they show the capability to intervene immediately on any coast from international waters, without the need for permits or agreements with other countries.

The Spanish presence in the DYNAMIC MARINER/MAVI- BALINA exercise will be completed with the F-100 frigate ‘Cristóbal Colón’ and the minehunter ‘Duero’, which are currently part of NATO’s standing groups SNMG-2 and SNMCMG-2 deployed in nearby scenarios.

Once the exercise is over, the LHD ‘Juan Carlos I’, accompanied by the LPD ‘Castilla’ and the F-80 frigate ‘Navarra’ will return to their homeport in Rota Naval Base, carrying out several so-called ‘opportunity exercises’ with ships and aircraft from Greece, Italy, France and the USA.