Robles praises the professionalism of the Armed Forces and the potential of the Spanish defence industry
News - 2025.10.29
The Minister for Defence , Margarita Robles, with her Portuguese counterpart, Nuno Melo, in Lisbon
The Minister of for Defence praised Spain and Portugal's contribution to NATO. During a bilateral meeting between the two officials at the residence of the Portuguese minister, Nuno Melo, Robles highlighted the effort and hard work being made by our country to fulfil the commitments it has undertaken.
"Spain, thanks to the Modernisation Plan, which includes 31 new programmes, has already reached 2%", said the minister, who agrees with her Portuguese counterpart on the economic and employment opportunity that this plan of almost 10.5 billion represents, "where Spanish industry will be the main protagonist, as well as the commitment to cybersecurity and dual technology".
A commitment to NATO that is clearly reflected in the participation of thousands of Spanish military personnel in missions around the world and in barracks such as STRIKFORNATO (NATO's Naval Strike and Support Forces) in Portugal.
There, Robles was congratulated by the Deputy Commander (second in command), Rear Admiral Craig Wood of the Royal Navy, for the contribution of the Spanish Navy, for the professionalism, seriousness and reliability of our country, and for the professionalism of the 20 Spaniards working in the barracks, most of them in the operations area.
Most relevant activities
STRIKFORNATO is an eminently flexible and rapidly deployable multinational joint headquarters. It also acts as a liaison to integrate US maritime forces into Alliance operations.
The most important activity it carries out is the Enhanced Surveillance 'Neptune Strike' (NEST), which is planned and executed in two months, through the integration of carrier battle groups. Spain regularly contributes with units from the Navy and the Air and Space Army.
The Baltic Operations, the main maritime exercise in Baltic waters, is also planned and executed from there. Spain, with the Expeditionary Group 'Dédalo', had an outstanding participation in 2024.
And the 'Formidable Shield', a biennial joint multinational exercise to which Spain contributes an F-100 frigate, in which the interoperability of the different allied weapons systems is tested in ballistic missile defence scenarios.
Non official translation