The Minister for Defence, Margarita Robles, with the Spanish contingent assigned to the NATO's Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM) in Northwood (England)
Margarita Robles visited NATO's Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM) in Northwood (England), where she met with the commanders of the barracks and the Spanish personnel stationed there.
On her arrival in the UK, Robles, who was accompanied by the Secretary General for Defence Policy, Admiral Juan Francisco Martínez Nuñez, and her Director of the Technical Cabinet, Admiral Antonino Cordero, was received by the Spanish Ambassador to the United Kingdom, José Pascual Marco Martínez.
She then travelled to the barracks of the Maritime Command, where she was received by its Commander, British Vice Admiral Michael Utley, and its Chief of Staff, Vice Admiral José Delgado Roig, with whom she had the opportunity to talk before moving on to the barracks' Operations Centre, where she was briefed in detail on the current maritime security situation. At the end of the presentation, Minister Robles signed the barracks' book of honour.
During the visit, the minister highlighted the high degree of commitment of our Armed Forces to NATO, both in terms of personnel and force generation, a commitment that is especially important in the context of the Maritime Forces.
Robles pointed out that "the national contingent at this barracks ranks fifth among the Allies in terms of the number of troops" and recalled that "Spain is one of the main contributors to NATO's Standing Forces and an example of readiness and effectiveness".
In addition, she stressed, "we currently command the NATO Standing Naval Grouping SNMG1 and participate with a minehunter in the Standing Counter Mine Action Grouping SNMCMG2, as well as contributing through the deployment of the Expeditionary Group 'Daedalus', which coordinates daily with MARCOM and on occasion is placed under NATO command for exercises or surveillance missions".
Finally, the Minister for Defence held a meeting with the 32 troops (31 military personnel and 1 civilian) that make up the Spanish contingent at Northwood, with whom she had a family photo.
After the visit, the Defence minister travelled to the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, where she was received by its Dean, Dr Ngaire Woods, before delivering a lecture under the title: "Defence's contribution to peace and stability".
The Alliance's maritime command
MARCOM is the element of the Alliance that centralises knowledge of the maritime environment and from which allied naval operations are directed, including, in peacetime, the missions of the Permanent Naval Forces, which Spain joined in 1990 by deploying the frigate 'Asturias' to the North Sea. Only three years later, in 1993, our Navy was invited by the Allies to participate for the first time in the embarked General Staff of the Permanent Naval Force Atlantic, under the operational control of this maritime headquarters.
Northwood is the only barracks of its kind and since 2020, and more intensively since the war in Ukraine began, it has been undergoing a constant process of transformation to adapt its responsibilities and structures to those of a fully operational barracks aligned with NATO's new force model, focused on deterrence and defence, and capable of transitioning nimbly from a peacetime situation to one of crisis or conflict.
Non official translation