Spain is hosting the MILEX 26 military exercise this month at the San Gregorio Training Centre in Zaragoza, manoeuvres organised by the European Union to assess the response capability of its Rapid Deployment Force in international crisis scenarios.
Around 2,500 troops from 13 member states are taking part in the exercise, of whom more than 1,600 are Spanish.
The aim of the drills is to test the functioning of the Rapid Deployment Capacity (RDC), an EU initiative designed to strengthen its ability to respond to crises and improve coordination between EU’s armed forces.
The deployment is already under way and will culminate on 18 June with a live-fire tactical demonstration before civilian and military authorities, in which the participating forces will respond to a fictional crisis scenario. The exercise is designed to put European military coordination to the test at strategic, operational and tactical levels.
Strategic command is in the hands of the EU’s Military Planning and Conduct Capability (MPCC), based in Brussels. At operational level, Eurocorps is deployed in Zaragoza as the force headquarters, while on the ground the EU Battlegroup (EUBG26) is under Spanish leadership.
