add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
Orthodontists in Pueblo Army Depot, CO - Braces in Colorado, Pueblo Army orthopages.com | Swedish Firesteel Fire Starter- Army Model at Online... onlinefitness.com | Gold Tone Spanish Talking Watch - Spanish Talking Watches sightconnection.com | Store | Product Details: Spanish Forms (Single Sided) HIPAA... dentalrecord.com |
The Spanish Army (Ejército de Tierra in Spanish; literally, "Land Army") is one of oldest active armies in the world and a branch of the Spanish Armed Forces, in charge of land operations. King Juan Carlos I is the Supreme Commnder-in-Chief of the Army.
[edit] IntroductionThe Spanish Army has existed continuously since the reign of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella (late 15th century). The oldest and largest of the three services, its mission was the defense of peninsular Spain, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Melilla, Ceuta and the Spanish islands and rocks off the northern coast of Africa. The army is completing a major reorganization. It had previously been organized into nine regional operational commands. These were reduced to six commands in conjunction with a revised deployment of forces: Central Command, Southern Command, Levante Command, Eastern Pyrenees Command, Northwestern Command, and Western Pyrenees Command. In addition there were the two military zones of the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands. Ceuta and Melilla fell within the Southern Command. At the head of each regional and zonal command was an officer of three-star rank. Although his authority had been reduced, the regional commander, who held the title of captain general, was still among the most senior officers of the army. Under its earlier organization, the army was grouped into two basic categories: the Immediate Intervention Forces and the Territorial Operational Defence Forces. In theory, the former, consisting of three divisions and ten brigades, had the missions of defending the Pyrenean and the Gibraltar frontiers and of fulfilling Spain's security commitments abroad. The latter force, consisting of two mountain divisions and fourteen brigades, had the missions of maintaining security in the regional commands and of reinforcing the Civil Guard and the police against subversion and terrorism. In reality, most of the Immediate Intervention Forces were not positioned to carry out their ostensible mission of protecting the nation's borders. Many units were stationed near major cities--as a matter of convenience for officers who held part-time jobs--from which they also could be called upon to curb disturbances or unrest. In a gradual process that had not been fully completed, the division of the army into the Immediate Intervention Forces and the Territorial Operational Defence Forces was being abolished. The brigade had become the fundamental tactical unit. The total number of brigades had been reduced from twenty-four to fifteen by the dismantling of nine territorial defence brigades. Eleven of the brigades had been organized within the existing five divisions; three brigades were to be independent, and one was to be in general reserve. The best equipped of the five was the First Division, the Brunete Armored Division, with its armored brigade in the Madrid area and its mechanized brigade farther to the southwest near Badajoz. The motorized Second Division, Guzman el Bueno Division, which had acquired a third brigade as a result of the reorganization, was the major defensive force in the south, with full capability for rapid maneuver. The mechanized Third Division, the Maestrazgo Division, under the Levante Command, consisted of two brigades considered to have a moderate degree of mobility. The two mountain divisions, the Fourth Division--or Urgel Division and the Fifth Division--or Navarra Division, each consisting of two mountain brigades, remained in the Pyrenees border area of the north. Two of the four independent brigades were armored cavalry, one was an airborne brigade, and one was a paratroop brigade (in general reserve). Numerous other changes were introduced as well, including the reorganization of artillery forces not included in the major combat units. This involved the creation of a field artillery command that consisted of a restructured and consolidated former artillery brigade, the creation of a single straits coastal artillery command that replaced two former coastal artillery regiments, and the introduction of an antiaircraft artillery command that was expected to benefit from significant modernizing of its weapons inventory. The personnel strength of the army, which previously had been maintained at about 280,000, including 170,000 conscripts, had been trimmed to 240,000 by 1987. This was achieved through lower intakes of conscripts and volunteers and through cuts in the table of organization for officers and NCOs. The government's goal was a smaller but more capable army of 195,000 effective by 1991. Outside peninsular Spain, about 19,000 troops were stationed in Ceuta and Melilla. These included, in addition to the Spanish Legion and other specialized units, four regular regiments of North Africans. An additional 5,800 troops were assigned to the Balearic Islands, and 10,000 were in the Canary Islands. The Spanish Legion, founded in Morocco in 1920, has always been under the direct command of the chief of the army staff. It has had a reputation as the toughest combat unit in the service, although modelled after the French Foreign Legion, reduced in size in 1987, as a result of successive reorganizations, the legion was scheduled to undergo further cuts to an overall strength of 6,500. It had a higher number of career soldiers than other units, but it was manned mostly by conscripts who had volunteered for the legion. Recruitment of non-Spanish personnel, who had never exceeded 10 percent of the group's manpower, ended in 1986. Foreign legionnaires already in the service were not affected. The Spanish Legion is grouped into four tercios (sing., tercio), a unit intermediate between a regiment and a brigade, each commanded by a colonel. The first and the second tercios constituted the core of the military garrisons at Melilla and Ceuta (North Africa). Each had been reduced by a motorized battalion, leaving it with a single motorized battalion, a mechanized battalion, an antitank company, and a headquarters company. They were equipped with BMR armored personnel carriers. The Third Tercio, stationed in the Canary Islands, consisted of two motorized battalions and a headquarters company. The Fourth Tercio was being converted from a support role to a combat unit at the legion headquarters in Ronda near Malaga. Although, probably not as "glamorous" outside Spain as their French counterparts, the Spanish legion has nothing to envy in professionalism and "fiercy" to any other elite force in the world. The Ministry of Defence was planning the creation of a rapid deployment force composed entirely of volunteers. This force, which would include the Spanish Legion, the Paratroop Brigade, the Airborne Brigade, and Marine units, would be available for use in trouble spots on twelve hours' notice. Lack of adequate air and naval transport would, however, be a limiting factor. In spite of new procurement programs, introduced in the mid-1980s, arms and equipment were not in sufficient supply, and they were not up to the standards of other NATO armies. The inventory of medium tanks was made up of nearly 700 American models, as well as about Franco-Spanish 300 AMX-30s manufactured in Spain between 1974 and 1983. Although the military felt that it was essential to adopt a new main battle tank for the 1990s, some considerations led to a postponement of the decision and the upgrading of the AMX-30s with new German-designed diesel engines and transmissions, reactive armor panels, and laser fire-control systems. Armored troop carriers included about 1,200 M-113s as well as AML-60s and AML-90s and Pizarro infantry fighting vehicle. The Spanish army is in the process of being equipped with more than 1,200 BMRs, a new armored vehicle designed and manufactured in Spain. A variety of towed and self-propelled artillery was available, ranging from 105 mm to 203 mm guns and howitzers. The main antitank weapons were recoilless rifles; 88.9 mm rocket launchers; Milan, Cobra, and Dragon missiles; and a small number of TOW (tube-launched, optically tracked, wireguided ) and HOT (high subsonic, optically guided, tube-launched) antitank missile systems. A considerable quantity of additional antitank missiles and rocket launchers was on order. The army aircraft inventory included about 280 helicopters, about 40 of which were armed with 20 mm guns or HOT antitank missiles.  [edit] ManpowerThe army was about 135,000 troops (50,000 officers and 85,000 soldiers) by the end of 2001 when compulsory military service was still in use. Currently, the Spanish Army is a fully professionalized force (size 86,000). In case of war or siege state, an additional force of 80,000 Civil Guards comes under the Ministry of Defence command. [edit] RanksThe military ranks of the Spanish Army are as follows below, for a comparison with other NATO ranks see Ranks and Insignia of NATO.
[edit] 1985: situation and equipmentIn this year the Spanish Army began a reorganization that included a 45,000 organic unit reduction. It had, at the time, one Armoured division (2 active armoured brigades and one reserve), one Mechanized division, one Motorized division, and five separate brigades (one each: airborne, armored, air-assault, infantry, heavy artillery). These units, together with some separate regiments, were in the active component (or FII). In the Territorial Army (reserve forces, known in Spanish as FDOT) there were:
Other forces were: Baleares (three infantry regiments and support units), Canarias (one Tercio regiment and three infantry regiments), Ceuta and Melilla (2 regiments of African troops and three Tercio). Weapons were (SP means Self Propelled):
A.T weapons: rocket launchers M65 89 mm, M 40 RLC 106 mm, ATGW Cobra, MILAN, HOT, TOW, M 47 Dragon
[edit] 1991: situation and reorganizationAt that time there was a plan called META, in Spanish Modernization of Army, that was discussed between 1982 and 1988. Military regions were reduced from 9 to 6, FII and DOT (Field Army and Territorial Army) were joined and the brigades were reduced from 24 to 15. Men were recently reduced from 279,000 to 230,000. Five divisions, with 11 brigades, were organized as:
Three separate brigades were: JARMA Air-assault Brigade, CASTILLEJOS Armoured Brigades, and BRICAP Airborne Brigade, this latter with the General Reserve. Minor units with 14,000 men were in Canaries, 9,000 in Baleares, 7,000 in Ceuta and Melilla. Six groups and three companies were devoted to special operations (GOE and COE). Standard divisional structure was: 12,000-17,000 men, with one HQ, one light armoured cavalry regiment, two or three brigades, artillery regiment of two groups (12 or 18 pieces each), one Bofors-armed AAA group, and several support units (signal, NBC, transport). Brigades were organized with a 3-5000 strength, 3 or 4 battalions, one artillery group and support units. As for weapons, at that time there was a total of 850 tanks: 299 AMX-30E. 164 M-48 A5E1, 325 M-47 E1 and 46 M-47E2. The CFE agreements downed it to a 794 maximum, but this has not happened at this time. AMX-30E were license-built by Empresa Nacional Santa Barbara between 1974 and 1983. They were the mainstay of the Army, and despite their recent age they were below expectations because of transmission problems. 150 were predicted to be upgraded to AMX-30E2 with enhanced protection (with ERA bricks), fire-control systems (based on laser and ballistic computers), mobility improvements. Total cost was planned 30 billions pesetas. Over 80% of this bill was about the replacement of Hispano-Suiza HA-110 engine and mechanical transmission, with the same of Leopard 1 (MTU 833, 840hp) and ZF LSG-3000 automatic transmission. FCS is Hughes Mk 9, while ERA is BLAZER, Israeli-made. M-47 E1 and E2 had diesel powerplants instead of original gasoline engines, M-47 E2 and M-48 A5E1 had 105 mm guns, with the latter a computerized FCS Hughes Mk 7. Advanced night-vision sistems were also in program. To replace many of these tanks there was a program for 272 M60A1 and 260 M60A3 ex-US Army main battle tanks. This meant that all M-47 and M-48 will been phased out and sent to Pakistan and Bolivia. Cavalry had at the time 13 regiments (infantry had around 40), 7 light (RCLAC), 4 armoured (RCAC) and one school. They had several units: 1 with M113 and one tank squadron with 30 vehicles (13 tanks and 17 M113 basic or with 120 mm SP mortar). BMR VEC were the mainstay of cavalry squadrons (three for each regiment). These 6x6 armoured were built in Spain, had OTO-Melara turrets and different weapons: 20 had the relatively weak 20 mm Rh-202, while 70 had Cockerill 90 mm gun, far powerful also for anti-tank actions. But the majority had M-242 Bushmaster gun, the same as the M2 Bradley (Without DU ammunition), for a total of 208 out 298. M242 have range and power to threat many tanks and all light AFV with APDS ammunition. Other valuable machines were 1,200 M113, included special versions like 81 and 120 mortar-carriers. MAAA (Anti-aircraft Command) and MACA (Field artillery command) were also commanded by General Reserve, directly dependent by ET HQ. The six regiments of MAAA had 12 groups. Six had Bofors guns, 3 had Oerlikon 35 mm, 1 HAWK and NIKE-HERCULES, 1 Roland, and 1 with TOLEDO, a combination of 35/90 mm gun and ASPIDE missiles. All the units had:
MACA was organized with an HQ and several regiments: 61 localization Regiment, 62 MLR Regiment and 63 Artillery Regiment. 62 was organized with one group TERUEL MLR (12 140 mm launchers, 40 tubes each) and two groups with old 122/46 mm guns. 63rd had one group with 122 mm guns and one with 203/25 M115 guns. Programs at the time saw the increasing to 64 TERUEL launchers and 60 new cannons with two different Spanish models, Santa Barbara REMA (155/39 mm) and SITECSA ST-102 with longer range , 40 km with Base-Bleed projectiles(155/45 mm) compared to 30 km of REMA gun. FCS for artillery was AN/TPQ-36 (four) and SORAS (Swedish model). Totally, at the time ET had: 90 OTO Model 56 howitzers (105/26 mm), 64 122/46 mm, 64 203/25 mm M-115, 12 M110A2, 48 M108 (105/30 mm), 96 M-109, 12 TERUEL for a total of 442 pieces. Cleary, the field artillery of ET was obsolete and modest compared with a.a artillery. Other artillery were in Command coastal defence, serving in 30 batteries. These weapons were obsolete but powerful having 150, 152, 305 and even 381 mm guns. Also for them it was planned a replacement with missiles and modern artillery. Many small weapons were projected or manifactured in Spain, among them 40 mm grenade-launchers and ECIA 81 mm mortars, both self propelled and ground used. CETMA 7,62 mm automatic rifles were the standard. FAMET was also a part of General Reserve. This service had as main tasks the air mobility, recognition and attack for the Army and was organized with several units, among them five support and six flight units. One attack battalion was BHELA I (mainly with BO-105), One BHELTRA for transport (CH-47 and UH-1H), four BELMHA multi-role. Over 180 helicopters were in charge, making FAMET one of the most modern and effective among the ET forces. 71 BO-105, 17 OH-58, 60 UH-1H, 6 AB-212, 18 CH-47, 18 Super Puma (under license built by CASA). Weapons were HOT missiles (for 28 BO-105), 20 mm guns (for 18 BO-105), 70 mm M-158 and M-9 launchers, 7,62 (also gatling model) and 12,7 mm weapons, 40 mm Mk 94 automatic grenade-launchers. Spanish Legion had 7,000 men among SLEG and four Tercios: 1, 2, 3, 4. [edit] Current StructureThe Spanish Army undertook a major restructuring; augmenting its capabilities and expanding its strength. The reorganization started in 2006 and was complete in early 2009.   [edit] Land Forces Command[edit] 1st Land Force Command – Heavy Forces
[edit] 2nd Land Force Command – Light Forces
[edit] Ceuta General Command
[edit] Melilla General Command
[edit] Balearics General Command
[edit] Support Units of the Land Forces
Other Units of the Land Forces:
[edit] Canarias General Command
[edit] Logistic Operation Forces
[edit] Equipment[edit] Weapons
[edit] Combat vehiclesMain article: Tanks in the Spanish Army
[edit] Artillery
[edit] HelicoptersMain article: Spanish Army Airmobile Force 
[edit] Unmaned Aerial Vehicles
[edit] See also[edit] References
[edit] External links and Further Reading
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
