After the Italian-Spanish "Firex 1-18" exercise

(To Marina Militare)
14/02/18

The "FIREX 11-1" exercise conducted by the personnel of the 18st regiment of the marine brigade ended on February 1, after about a week. Saint Mark at the Sierra del Retin Training Camp, Spain, together with the United States Marine Corps and the Spanish Ejarmé de Tierra, to refine the capabilities of the amphibious teams that support landing troops during ground fire activities.

The exercise, managed by the commander of the Grupo de Artilleria from the Spanish Desembarco, involved the Navy "Observer Fire Support" specialists who had the opportunity, among other things, to confront their colleagues in an international context for refine the techniques of request and observation of the artillery fire and improve the techniques of control of the individual weapons in support.

The "FIREX 1-18" training activity is part of the cycle of joint exercises provided for in the annual training plan of the marine brigade Saint Mark and the Tercio de Armada, for the maintenance of the operational capabilities of the Spanish Italian Landing Force (SILF) and represents an opportunity to consolidate the use of the operational procedures of the amphibious force in Europe.

In the continuous emergence of new challenges to European security and interests (piracy, illegitimate migration, cyber security), in fact, Defense has become one of the main components that the Country System and the Europe System must employ to prevent, limit and tackle the threats to the safety of the community.

In this context, the European Union has considered it important to have packages of forces with small, named dimensions Battlegroup (BG), characterized by rapid use and intervention, for short periods, on a wide range of missions, to be used to deal with threats. Starting from the 2007 it has in fact prepared the possibility of using two Battlegroups that become usable on a six-monthly basis, according to a pre-established shift between Member States.

As part of the bilateral exchange activities between Spain and Italy, the respective military leaders have expressed their willingness to contribute to the EU-BG shift in the 2nd half of 2020, with an Italian-led device that places the burden on our country to provide to the European Union the readiness of an Amphibious Battlegroup, characterized by assets of the Italian Navy from the Third Naval Division and the Marine Brigade Saint Mark, supported by Spanish landing components, configured on the structure of the Spanish Italian Amphibious Force (SIAF) bilateral initiative, and a reinforcement of Portuguese and Greek operative units.