Spain greenlights increased US presence at Rota naval base

The Spanish Cabinet on Tuesday approved letting the foreign and defense ministries engage directly with the United States over the future deployment of two destroyers at the US naval station in Rota, in the southern Spanish province of Cádiz. The two destroyers, with 300 crew members each, are expected to arrive in 2024 and 2025, according to the request made by the Pentagon.

These two new vessels will be added to the four destroyers that have been deployed at the base since 2015. As this newspaper reported on January 2, this 50% increase in the US Navy’s presence in Spain will be carried out without first modifying the bilateral defense agreement signed between the two countries in December 1988. Therefore, it will not be submitted to the Spanish parliament for approval.

The Spanish government has also tasked the defense and foreign ministries with taking the necessary steps to provide adequate facilities for the future force of six destroyers, as well as their crews and equipment. Beyond the political debate, there is an economic element at play, as the increased presence will mean more work for the local Navantia shipyards, to which the US Navy has awarded the maintenance of its ships in Rota for up to €822 million to 2028.

This US troop reinforcement in Spain was first announced by US President Joe Biden and by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez when the former was in Madrid for a NATO summit in June 2022. Both new ships will be included in the North Atlantic Alliance’s air and missile defense system, although they may also carry out missions on behalf of Washington.

Bypassing parliament

Unlike the three previous occasions in which the bilateral agreement was modified (in 2002, 2012 and 2015), this time the government is bypassing parliamentary endorsement on the basis that the increase in ships at Rota “does not alter the nature” of Spain’s military treaty with Washington. The document’s second amending protocol, which authorized the deployment of the first four destroyers, also established that “administrative agreements” could be signed at a future date as long as they adhered to national legislation. By avoiding parliament, the governing Socialist Party (PSOE) is effectively preventing its own minority partner, the leftist Unidas Podemos (United We Can), from potentially voting against the arrival of the new ships.

The defense cooperation agreement between Spain and the US entered into force in May 1989 for a period of eight years. It was amended twice (to regulate the activities in Spain of the US Navy and Air Force’s secret services and to allow for the arrival of the first four destroyers) and each time extended for the same period, to May 2021. Since then, Article 59.2 of the agreement has been applied, automatically extending the agreement by one-year periods.

From a legal standpoint, the bilateral agreement has the status of an international treaty for Spain (although not for the United States) and any changes to it require backing from parliament. That is why the arrival of the first four ships was submitted to the lower house for approval.

Sources consulted by this newspaper said that, in any case, the upper limit for US personnel at Rota established in the agreement will not be exceeded: 4,250 soldiers and 1,000 civilians. In September 2021, there were in fact 3,200 troops and 450 civilians, 70% of the maximum allowed figure. Nor will the six destroyers ever be simultaneously in Rota, said these sources, since there is always more than one either out at sea or in dry dock for maintenance or repairs.

The first four Arleigh Burke-class destroyers arrived in Rota between February 2014 and September 2015. The first of them was the USS Donald Cook, and the last was the USS Carney. Equipped with the Aegis combat system, they form the naval component of the anti-missile shield that NATO approved to protect itself from a hypothetical attack from countries such as Iran and North Korea (at that time Russia was still considered a partner), and which also includes missile-launching ground bases in Poland and Romania and a radar in Turkey. However, that is not the only mission entrusted to them by the Pentagon: the destroyers frequently carry out surveillance and deterrence patrols in the Black Sea and, in April 2017, two of these ships launched 59 Tomahawk missiles in retaliation for the use of chemical weapons by the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria.

As of May 2020, the Navy has replaced the destroyers initially stationed in Rota with four more modern ones: the USS Arleigh Burke, the USS Roosevelt, the USS Paul Ignatius and the USS Bulkeley. The new ships, unlike the previous ones, have a helicopter on board, which led to the deployment in June at the Rota base of a Naval Attack Helicopter Squadron (HSM-79), known as the Griffins.

The Rota naval base began operations in the early 1950s as a result of efforts by the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco and American authorities to quietly normalize relations despite a public condemnation of the Spanish regime by the United Nations.

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