The Army displays the Expeditionary Combat Group “Dédalo 23” around the Mediterranean

It will lead the first exercise of the new European Union Military Response Capability and participate in NATO's "enhanced surveillance activities".

The following 27th of September will start a new deployment of the Expeditionary Combat Group “Dédalo-23” around the Mediterranean which will be extended to mid November. The successive phases of the deployment will involve the ships of the Fleet Amphibious and Projection Group "Juan Carlos I", "Galicia" and "Castilla", "Harrier" aircraft, helicopters, a reinforced Marine Infantry Landing Battalion and the frigate "Numancia". Rear Admiral Gonzalo Villar will again be in command.

Initially, the assault ships of the amphibian “Galicia” and “Castilla”, which will embark the first Batallón de Desembarco del Tercio de Armada, which will be done during the first week of the deployment, bilateral exercises with the U.S. amphibious ship USS "Mesa Verde" and a Marine battalion at the Sierra del Retin Maneuvering Range, Cadiz.

In a second phase, and after the incorporation of “Juan Carlos I” after the end of the Operative Qualification, will make the beginning of the exercise MILEX 23. A multinational exercise that will be the first occasion on which the European Union will put into practice its Military Response Capability, introduced in the "Strategic Compass" approved last year.

In this practice will participate naval, air and land units from 21 countries of the Union, totaling more than 2,800 troops. This force will be under the command of the Commander of the Amphibious and Projection Group, GRUPFLOT, which will be supported by an international General Staff.

With the MILEX exercise ended, the Group “Dédalo” will be directed to the Adriatic Sea to participate in the “reinforced surveillance activities”, Neptune Strike, under the command of the NATO’s. In this phase of the deployment the presence of the aircraft carriers USS "Dwight D. Eisenhower", American; ITS "Cavour", Italian; HMS "Queen Elizabeth", British and the amphibious aircraft carriers USS "Bataan", American and TCG "Anadolu", Turkish, together with the ship "Juan Carlos I", will be of special relevance. The latter ship, sister ship of the "Juan Carlos I", will participate for the first time after its recent entry into service.

Finally, and in the final phase of the deployment, the "Dédalo 23" Group will take part in the NATO exercise "Dynamic Mariner/Mare Aperto 23", which will take place in Sardinian waters. The combination of ships, aircraft, helicopters and marines in the Expeditionary Battle Group is a vital deterrent in crisis situations, due to its ability to operate on any coastline from international waters, without the need for permits or agreements with other countries.

Although its main task is to carry out military operations on land operating from the sea, the variety of capabilities provided by its component units allows the "Dédalo 23" to easily reconfigure itself to face all types of missions, from those of maximum military complexity, such as Neptune Strike, to humanitarian aid operations, such as the one carried out after the earthquake that shook Turkey last February.

The company was at the disposal of the local emergency authorities to assist the population with all its means and carried out multiple humanitarian assistance tasks such as food and water distribution, setting up camps for victims, unloading ships and planes with humanitarian aid and searching for survivors in the rubble, helping to save the lives of an adult and a 7-year-old child.