The Air and Space Force has begun the Ocean Sky 2025 exercise, the main aerial combat training organized annually by Spain and one of the most important in the European environment.
From October 15 to 31, the skies south of the Canary archipelago will become a vast operational theater, where Spanish and allied units will test their capabilities in a complex and highly demanding environment.
The exercise is directed by the Air Combat Command (MACOM) and has the operational leadership of the Gando Air Base, with support from the Lanzarote Air Base.
The exercise involves the participation of the 11th, 12th, 14th, 15th, 31st, and 46th wings of the Air and Space Force, which will deploy Eurofighter Typhoon and F-18M aircraft. In addition, air forces from Germany, Greece, Portugal, India, and the United States, as well as the European Air Refuelling Training (EART) initiative, will also operate alongside them.
This international deployment brings together F-18M, Eurofighter, F-16 C/D B50, F-16 Fighting Falcon M, F-15E, Su-30MKI aircraft, as well as MRTT, KC-767, KC-30M, A-332, and A400M tanker aircraft. In total, more than fifty aircraft will strengthen interoperability and cooperation between allies.
Other units that play a fundamental role during the development of this exercise are the GRUALERCON, GRUCEMAC, GRUNOMAC, EADA, SEADA, GRUMOCA, CIGES, and the Royal Guard.
The choice of the Canary Islands as the setting for the exercise is no coincidence. Its stable weather conditions throughout the year, together with the low density of air traffic in the area, offer an ideal environment for the development of complex and realistic training, in which simulated combat between large combined air forces can take place with complete safety.
The main objective of Ocean Sky 25 is to train for air superiority missions in the areas of Defensive Counter-Air (DCA) and Offensive Counter-Air (OCA), simulating combat between large combined air forces. These types of exercises improve interoperability, tactical leadership, and international cooperation capabilities, which are essential to guaranteeing collective security in European airspace.
The Grualercon, a key piece of air control
The Alert and Control Group (GRUALERCON) of the Air and Space Force has played an essential role in conducting the international exercise Ocean Sky 2025, the main air-to-air training that Spain holds each year and one of the most demanding in Europe.
From its operations center at the Gando Air Base, the group has exercised tactical control of the airspace during the missions, guaranteeing the safety, coordination, and efficacy of the more than twenty participating combat aircraft.
The GRUALERCON is the unit responsible for the permanent air defense of the Canary archipelago, a mission it carries out 365 days a year and which, if necessary, could be extended to the rest of the national airspace.
Its mission responds simultaneously to the national component and to NATO, integrating into the air defense structure of the Atlantic Alliance. This makes it a key element within the collective security system and one of the pillars of Spanish airspace surveillance.
In simple terms, command and control is the ability to monitor, coordinate, and direct the movement of own and allied aircraft in real time during an operation. The controllers of the GRUALERCON are, in essence, the "eyes and ears" of the pilots in flight: they provide information about the enemy, assign priorities, optimize the effectiveness of each aircraft, and ensure that all aircraft operate under the same plan. Their work is discreet, but absolutely decisive for the success of any air mission.
During Ocean Sky 25, GRUALERCON has had the support of controllers from the Northern Command and Control Group (GRUNOMAC), based at the Zaragoza Air Base, and the Central Command and Control Group (GRUCEMAC), located at the Torrejón Air Base. All of them have worked under common and perfectly integrated procedures, which has made it possible to realistically reproduce the conditions of a real multinational operation and reinforce interoperability between allied control centers.