Photos by Pere Vilalta Torné.
With the deployment of key personnel on October 16th and the support of the Zaragoza Air Base Group, a new edition of this prestigious ETAP-C 24-4 Single Course will begin. This year’s event will feature aircraft and personnel from Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Italy, France, Portugal, and Romania, in addition to the Spanish Mamut (31st Wing) and Ibis (35th Wing).
For the first time, an E3F AWACS from the French Air and Space Force will support the course, operating from Avord Air Base in central France and integrated into the Spanish Command and Control structure.
Although this is the program’s raison d’être, the ETAP-C in Zaragoza involves much more than just aircraft and their crews: the paratroopers from the Air Deployment Support Squadron (EADA) will be joined by fellow paratroopers from the Czech Army, the Italian Aeronautica Militare, and the French 1st Regiment of Train Parachutiste of the Army; they will also be joined by VAMTAC ST-5 armored personnel and vehicles in various configurations from the Spanish Army’s Parachute Brigade (BRIPAC) and the Parachute Sapper Squadron (EZAPAC). Thanks to the efforts of all these Spanish units, the Zaragoza course is a European benchmark for real-world activity involving cargo drops and combat unloading of cargo and vehicles.
In the coming days, the Air and Space Force, along with eight European allies, will demonstrate the maxims of “Stronger Together” and “Better Sweat in Training than Bleed in Battle,” from the plains of Valladolid to the lands of Cuenca, passing through the peaks of the Pyrenees.
