A series of photos taken by US Marines in Alexandroupolis
Next February, NATO is organizing one of its most important exercises for this year: Steadfast Dart 26.
The Spanish Army Railway Company: serving Spain on the railways
The deployment of armored vehicles of the Spanish Legion by train from Ronda to Zaragoza
This exercise will bring together some 10,000 military personnel from 11 countries in various locations in Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Turkey. Spain is one of the participating countries, contributing, among others, personnel from the Joint Special Operations Command (MCOE), which will lead NATO’s Special Operations Component Command (SOCC) for the second consecutive year, as well as various units from the Army and Air Force and several Navy ships, according to the Spanish Joint Chiefs of Staff (EMAD).
Last Friday, DVIDShub.net, the multimedia portal of the United States Armed Forces, published a series of photos of the deployment of Spanish Army soldiers for this exercise.
These photos show Spanish soldiers boarding a train at the port of Alexandroupolis, in northeastern Greece, during the Strategic Deployment phase of the aforementioned NATO exercise. The photos were taken last Friday, January 23, by U.S. Marine Corps personnel.
“Alexandroupolis Air and Sea Ports of Departure (A/SPOD) served as a strategic location to demonstrate deployment capabilities and interoperability between participating nations,” notes DVIDShub.net. “Steadfast Dart 2025 will test and train the operational deployment of the Allied Reaction Force to NATO Vigilance Area South-East, focusing on the planning and execution of a pre-crisis multi-domain activity that aims to reinforce the Allied forces located in Greece, Romania, and Bulgaria.”
Photos taken by the US Marines show a Greek rail convoy transporting Spanish soldiers and VAMTAC S-3, ST-5 and SK-95 vehicles from Greece to Romania.
The photos show personnel from the Legion and other units of the Spanish Army, including the 12th Pontoon Regiment and Engineer Specialties (RPEI 12) and the Communications Unit of the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Command (UTMAAA).
The images show the train convoy with two OSE A.501 series locomotives, the A.509 (leading the convoy) and the A.510 (behind it), followed by a passenger car and the flatcars with the vehicles.The OSE A.501 is a 1970s model known in Greece as the “Kanadeza” (Canadian), as they were built by the Canadian firm Montreal Locomotive Works. Both are operated by Hellenic Train S.A.
You can see more photos from this series here. You can see enlarged photos by clicking on each image.
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Photos: U.S. Marine Corps.