Spanish Army Airmobile Force
The Fuerzas del Ejército de Tierra Aero Móviles ( FAMET ), the Army Aviation Corps of the Spanish army. They perform their jobs primarily by aircraft, particularly military helicopters. The FAMET among the support troops, their primary areas of responsibility are infantry support, antitank, air combat, air transport of personnel and material, reconnaissance and search and rescue.
History
The establishment of the Army Aviation Corps as Aviación del Ejército de Tierra Ligera ( ALET ) was carried out in Spain on July 10, 1965 as part of a reorganization of the armed forces, which initially consisted of only one company. In May 1966, upgrading it to a battalion and renamed the Unidad de Helicópteros XI para Cuerpo de Ejército ( UHEL -XI ), but it was only in July of the same year the Spanish Army received its first aircraft, a total of six Bell UH -1 Iroquois and eight OH - 13S Sioux helicopters held by the United States Army.
Other units emerged in the first half of the 1970s. The second unit was on 20 March 1971, the Second Battalion, the UHEL II, situated in El Aaiun in the former Spanish Sahara and on March 20 In 1973 it was renamed the ALET in Fuerzas del Ejército de Tierra Aero Móviles ( FAMET ). As a result of the Spanish withdrawal from the Sahara the local UHEL - II was relocated in December 1973 to El COPERO. The V Battalion, the UHEL -V, was set up 10 days later on April 1 in Colmenar Viejo. As a result of the Spanish withdrawal from the Sahara the local UHEL - II was relocated in December 1973 to El COPERO and UHEL III. was set up on 28 May of the following year in Agoncillo. The UHEL -IV was eventually also activated in El COPERO on 28 June 1975, the already stationed there UHEL II finally laid in August 1979 after Bétera.
Later, the name was given as " helicopter unit " UHEL and in January was in Colmenar Viejeo another Bataiilon, the Bhela -I ( Batallón de Ataque de Helicópteros I), an attack helicopter battalion placed. This laid in the spring of 1983, after Almagro and on 26 April 1986 was the BHELMA -VI ( Batallón de Helicópteros de Maniobra VI) on the Canary Islands. One of the oldest units, the BHELMA - II was dissolved in December 2007 and took his place on 1 January 2008, the BHELEME -II ( Batallón de Helicópteros de Emergencias ), a rescue helicopter battalion, which also in Colmenar near the base Bétera Viejo uses.
Organization
The FAMET are currently divided into seven battalions and a logistics unit.
- Headquarters of the FAMET (Colmenar Viejo, Madrid)
- Batallón de Ataque de Helicópteros I ( Bhela I, attack helicopter battalion; Almagro, Ciudad Real)
- Batallón de Helicópteros de Emergencia II ( BHELEME II, emergency helicopter battalion; Bétera, Valencia )
- Batallón de Helicópteros de Maniobra III ( BHELMA III, maneuver helicopter battalion; Agoncillo, Logroño)
- Batallón de Helicópteros de Maniobra IV ( BHELMA IV, helicopter maneuver battalion El COPERO, Sevilla)
- Batallón Helicópteros de Transporte de V ( V BHELTRA, transport helicopter battalion; Colmenar Viejo, Madrid)
- Batallón de Helicópteros de Maniobra VI ( BHELMA VI, maneuver helicopter battalion; Los Rodeos, Tenerife )
- Batallón de Transmisiones de las FAMET ( BTRANS, reconnaissance battalion; Colmenar Viejo, Madrid)
- Unidad de Apoyo Logístico de las FAMET ( ULOG, logistics unit; Colmenar Viejo, Madrid)