​President of the Government visits military contingents deployed in Estonia and Latvia

By making this visit, the President of the Government wishes to see firsthand the work being carried out by the Air Force and Army on these deployments, and furthermore take advantage of the fact that the two missions of our troops have coincided within the framework of NATO and in support for the Baltic countries.

The first deployment, at Amari Air Base in Estonia, which holds the current Rotating Presidency of the European Union, corresponds to the rotation of the Baltic Air Policing that Spain holds between 3 May and 31 August. This is the fourth rotation in which Spain has patrolled the air space of the Baltic countries, and in Estonia the second time.

The mission of our F-18 aircraft from Zaragoza Air Base consists of protecting the sovereign air space of the Baltic States since the latter nations do not have sufficient resources to carry out this task themselves. It also consists of the safe transit of air traffic over an area of between 60,000 and 80,000 km2.

On the second mission, being undertaken in Latvia, our armoured units are taking part in the so-called enhanced Forward Presence battalion as part of NATO's dissuasion and defence policy.

Spain forms part of the Canadian multinational battalion, with 310 servicemen, mainly from the "Extremadura" Brigade based in Badajoz, four Leopard combat vehicles and 12 Pizarro infantry fighting vehicles. This Canadian battalion is also made up of troops from Poland, Italy, Slovenia and Albania.

It is the first time that Spain has deployed combat vehicles overseas, which has meant a major logistical effort for the Army.