The Air Deployment Support Squadron (EADA) deployed as many as 59 paratroopers using automatic static-line parachutes from an A400M during exercises held in Cucalón, in the province of Teruel. According to information published by Infodefensa, it is the first unit of the Spanish Air and Space Force to carry out an operation involving that number of personnel from this aircraft model.
The activity formed part of two mass parachute drops conducted in September under the Air Mobility Command’s Training and Cargo Drop Plan. Both exercises used the Teruel municipality as the drop zone and involved crews from Wing 31 aboard T.23 aircraft, the Spanish military designation for the A400M.
The exercises were designed to jointly train EADA and air transport crew procedures. The operation required coordination among the unit’s sections responsible for planning, preparing and carrying out the drop, as well as testing the equipment used.
The exercises were also included in EADA’s annual Basic Training Plan. The Air Mobility Command’s program provides for such activities to maintain and validate the procedures of units involved in air deployment operations.
