On January 17, OPV "Meteoro" left her home port in Las Palmas (Canary Islands) to join NATO’s Standing Mine Countermeasures Group 2 (SNMCMG-2) as Command ship, where she will deploy for a six-month period.
In this way OPV "Meteoro" will relieve her sister ship "Rayo" which participated in this operation during the second half of 2021.
NATO’s Standing Naval Groups are forces that provide a permanent Allied maritime presence. They form the core element of the Alliance's Rapid Response Forces (VJTF-M), being the first forces to be activated, even before a crisis is declared.
The ship's complement currently consists of 52 personnel, 7 of whom women. The patrol vessel also has a Command Element with its Staff, as flagship of the SNMCMG-2. The Staff is made up of a total of 11 people. Among them, 3 from different NATO nationalities.
An operational security squad of 11 Marines contributes to the protection in different scenarios such as entering or leaving port or even when conducting boarding operations.
As a Command and Support Vessel for mine countermeasures, a Diving Team has been integrated to carry out the necessary underwater activities, especially those related to search, recovery and deactivation of mines.