From 14 to 25 March, the Spanish coasts were the scene of an intense amphibious training conducted as part of the Spanish exercise GRUFLEX-22 which, in the context of the consolidated cooperation Spanish Italian Amphibious Force (SIAF) and Spanish Italian Landing Force (SILF) - born from a joint initiative of the two navies - which proved to be a further demonstration of the effectiveness of the union between the amphibious forces of Italy and Spain.
One of the important training events took part Amphibious Force (AF) Italian composed of the amphibious assault ship Saint Mark, and some units of the marine brigade Saint Mark on the framework of the 1st assault battalion Bachelor's Degree, to which a company level unit of the lagoon regiment was aggregated Serene and a helicopter in helicopter MH-90 configuration of the 4th group of the Italian Navy.
The Italian Amphibious Force confronted the Spanish Amphibious Force made up of the naval assets of the amphibious group y de proyeccion (amphibious projection group - GRUPFLOT) and by the landing units of the third of the armada (TEAR) in the two phases that characterized the exercise, first at the Alvarez de Sotomayor shooting range (Almeria) and, subsequently, at the Sierra del Retin shooting range (Cadiz), projecting the landing force to the ground by means (or connectors in tactical jargon) of surface and aircraft from the waters of the Atlantic Ocean in a particularly realistic scenario developed by the Spanish counterpart.
The main event of the first phase of the GRUFLEX-22 culminated with the conduct of an air raid by helicopter which highlighted the high interoperability, the harmony of the forces in the field and the flexibility of use that distinguishes the nature of amphibious forces.
The objective sought for the conduct of all phases of the training was the conduct of training activities of increasing complexity which culminated, with the second phase at the Sierra del Retin Polygon, where a complex amphibious operation was carried out that has committed all the assets embarked on the Italian and Spanish units involved: in addition to Nave Saint Mark those Spanish amphibians Juan Carlos I, Galicia and the frigate Saint Mary.
The aforementioned activities, in addition to having contributed to the maintenance of the high level of operation of the beating heart of the national Amphibious Force, that is the navy riflemen, have proved to be a challenging test bed to test the ability to operate in close collaboration, and complementarity. with other forces in a joint and combined perspective.
In conclusion, the results achieved in the GRUFLEX-22 proved to be of absolute value. The resumption of the training cycle for the components of the National Amphibious Force, in Spain and at the same time in Norway with the NATO exercise cold response 2022, has also made it possible to consolidate the operating procedures in highly challenging training areas, such as that of Sierra del Retin or the High North, in a context that is constantly characterized by particularly adverse and rapidly changing weather and sea conditions, which made everything much more interesting. .
