The Spanish Navy’s Protection Force conducts an exercise with the Canine Unit.

During this week, the Navy's Protection Force is conducting the exercise "CANEX-22"; a specific exercise of canine units designed to improve the training of the Marine Corps's canine teams and share expertise with the teams of other units of the Armed Forces and the State’s Constabulary forces.

The exercise, which began last November 27 and ends on December 2, is taking place in various locations in the Bay of Cadiz and the Sierra del Retin training range. 50 Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, Royal Guard, National Police and Civil Guard dog teams are participating. In addition, teams from the “Centro Militar Canino de la Defensa”, which is the reference center for canine training for the Armed Forces, are also participating.

The teams belong to the different specialties of security and combat, intervention and detection of explosives, narcotics and improvised explosive devices. The exercise "CANEX-22" is the largest exercise of these characteristics at national level and one of the most important ones in Europe.

During the exercise, the Port of Cadiz, the State’s Maritime Search and Rescue Society, and companies like Navantia and Transmediterránea, which are offering their facilities to provide new training scenarios for the participating teams, are also collaborating in the exercise. Together with these Services and Companies, the exercise will be attended by Pedro Salas and Jesús Martin, two international canine instructors who collaborate with the Spanish Navy’s Protection Force in the training of canine units and who are leading the project to train multitask dogs capable of combining both security, combat and detection skills.

Spanish Navy’s Protection Force

The Spanish Navy’s Protection Force is one of the three components of the Marine Corps’ Force and its mission is to guarantee the security and protection of the Navy's bases, installations, centers, organizations and people.

It is a unit designed to cover the defense requirements of the 21st century. It intends to incorporate the new emerging technologies in the field of security and protection, while being able to participate, if circumstances so require, in the specific tasks that every Marine has in the amphibious field.

It contributes to provide security in those facilities that, due to their level of criticality, require specialized protection. It is also responsible for providing physical security in those acts that require special security arrangements or protection to Navy authorities. In addition, it supervises through its security offices the compliance of the guidelines ordered in this matter in all the units of the Spanish Navy.

In the field of maritime security, the units of the Protection Force also participate actively on board Navy ships, integrating operational security teams in permanent missions of the Armed Forces, in international operations or supporting the State’s Constabulary Forces in operations to counter illegal activities at sea. These teams can be reinforced, when necessary, with canine units specialized in protection and detection of different substances.

It also participates, within the framework of defense diplomacy, in bilateral collaborations with third countries in which training programs are normally provided by naval police personnel in areas of personal security or maritime security.