The Ministerio de Defensa has reported that a total of 21,696 Spanish service members participated in overseas operations throughout 2025, as part of Spain’s international commitments to peace, security and collective defence. Defence Minister Margarita Robles presented the information during her appearance before the Defence Committee of the Congreso de los Diputados.

Spain maintained deployments in 14 international missions abroad, rising to 15 when including the mission providing support to Ukraine carried out within Spanish territory. These operations reflect the country’s response to an increasingly volatile international environment and its responsibility to contribute to the security of allied nations.

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Nearly 22,000 service members took part in overseas missions during 2025

Continuously, approximately 3,000 personnel were deployed around the clock in Permanent Presence, Surveillance and Deterrence Operations. Areas of deployment included strategic locations such as Slovakia, Lebanon, Iraq, Lithuania, and the Red Sea, where Spanish forces play a key role in early threat detection and rapid response.

During her address, the Minister also highlighted the Armed Forces’ contribution at the national level, noting that in 2025, the Unidad Militar de Emergencias was activated in 70 emergency operations. This figure represents the highest number of interventions since the unit was established.

In parallel, the Ministry of Defence continues to implement the Industrial and Technological Plan for Security and Defence, which has mobilised more than €10.4 billion and enabled the launch of 31 new modernisation programmes across land, maritime, aerospace and cyber domains. This investment underlines Spain’s reliability as an international partner and its commitment to meeting the defence spending target of 2% of GDP.