Spain will increase by 14,000 its total number of military before 2035, according to the commitment acquired by the Government with NATO. 50% of that increase, 7,000 troops, will occur in five-year period 2025-2029; and the rest in the 2030-2034 five-year period, completing it over a decade.
The commitment to increase the troops of the Armed Forces appears in the objective of capacities assigned by the Atlantic Alliance to Spain and its compliance period coincides with the one set in the recent allied Summit of The Hague (Netherlands) to reach the bar of 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dedicated to defense; An objective that Spain has rejected unnecessary. The Government alleges, based on a study of the Defense General Staff (EMAD), which, including the increase in personnel.
Spain has about 120,000 active military (116,410 to January 1, 2024, according to the Observatory of Military Life, dependent on the Cortes), so it increased in a decade is around 11%. In any case, within the fork that marks the 2007 military career, between 130,000 and 140,000 military personnels, of which 50,000 will be official and non -commissioned officers, so it will not be necessary to undertake a legal reform.
The head of the military dome, the armies have lost more than 10,000 soldiers in recent years, while more and more missions have assumed, since cyber -defense to the surveillance of the outer space, through the fight against forest fires, pandemics and natural catastrophes such as the Dana; Without forgetting the multiplication of international missions, with more than 3,000 troops deployed abroad.
The Royal Decree of Military Templates for the 2025-2029 period, of March 11, recognizes “the need to increase the global number of assemblies of the Armed Forces to be able to face the appearance of new threats and areas of action, as well as the growing demand for control and control structures, both national and international to which Spain belongs (EU and NATO), which cannot be alien to the current situation Geopolitics. ”
The challenge, however, is not only in recruiting more military, but above all to retain them. The teams that use the Armed Forces are increasingly sophisticated and will be even more in the medium term, with the incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, so its management requires highly specialized technicians with a solid training whose signing is very attractive to technological companies. “We have to offer the military a remuneration according to their level of preparation and demand,” warned the head of the military dome, thus admitting that the salaries paid by the armed forces are not competitive in the labor market, so they run the risk of decapitating and losing their best experts once they have provided training and experience. The obligation to remain in ranks determined number of years after performing the most expensive courses is considered a patch and can even have counterproductive effects, military sources warn. “The human element can end up representing a critical factor. Without properly formed personnel, regularly trained and emotionally motivated the most expensive systems can be useless,” warns a veteran command.
The increase in personnel – not only to provide the units of force, but also the headquarters – the document, which was approved on June 5 by the defense ministers of the 32 allied countries and is classified as a secret, forces Spain to develop and maintain a series of weapons and infrastructure systems.
Among other duties, Spain must improve its air defense systems, through the modernization and acquisition of new anti -aircard batteries Namams and antimiles Patriot; contradrons systems; Electronic War and Intelligence Teams, on Naval and Aerial Terrestrial Platforms; or the calls Trainers (Artillery, Engineers, Transmissions or Logistic Support) that provide great units of the Army of Land of Combat Capacity. Several of these programs have already been launched or are about to do so, such as the new spy ship of the Navy or Earth’s observation satellites Paz II; while others, like missiles Patriotthey have been delayed by the long waiting list that the production chain has.
In 2029, NATO will review compliance with capacities objectives for each of the countries. That will be the time to check if, as the Spanish government ensures, you can comply with 2.1% of your GDP or need to dedicate 5%, as the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Mark Rutte, maintains.
