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Our partners from the Kingdom of Spain take over command of NATO Multinational Battlegroup Slovakia as of today

Ministry of Defence & Armed Forces of the Czech Republic

01.07.2024

Spain has officially taken over command of the NATO Multinational Battlegroup Slovakia (NATO MN BG SVK) from the Czech Republic at the Military Training Centre (MTC) Lešť today (1 July 2024). Simultaneously, the Spanish Contingent (ESPCON) has taken on a leading role in the process of expanding the multinational battalion-sized task force to a Combat Brigade.

The official Hand Over-Take Over (HOTO) ceremony took place in the presence of President of the Slovak Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the Slovak Armed Forces Peter Pellegrini, a Ministry of Defence delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Robert Kaliňák, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Juraj Blanár, and other dignitaries. The Spanish Ambassador to Slovakia, Her Excellency Ms Lorea Arribalzaga Ceballos, and the Spanish Chief of Defence, Admiral Teodoro Esteban López Calderón, attended the ceremony on behalf of the Kingdom of Spain. Also present was CZE Chief of Defence Lieutenant General Karel Řehka.

Addressing the gathered audience at the HOTO ceremony, Mr Robert Kaliňák said: "I am convinced that the wide array of capabilities that the Spanish Armed Forces bring will benefit the entire transformation of the Battlegroup and will be of help not only to us, but also to the multinational Combat Brigade as a whole." Among those capabilities are command and control (C2), manoeuvre, and combat support (CS) and combat service support (CSS), including engineer and logistics assets.

Minister Kaliňák went on to extend a special thanks to the Czech Republic for being the first to assume the Framework Nation (FN) role for the NATO Battlegroup in Slovakia, saying: "Our neighbour, brother and friend was first to step in with leadership, and has, in a matter of two years, shown us what cooperation of several Allied countries should look like."

NATO MN BG SVK is a multinational task force comprised of service personnel from Czechia, Germany, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and the United States of America. They are now also joined by Romanian and Turkish military personnel as the battalion-sized Battlegroup transforms into the NATO Multinational Brigade Task Force Slovakia (NATO MN BDE TF SVK). The core task of the NATO Battlegroups on the Alliance's Eastern Flank is to demonstrate the Alliance's collective ability to deal with security threats and to defend Allied nations, including Slovakia and its citizens, if the security situation deteriorates.