Djibouti, 05 November 2019—The Spanish p.3M Orion has reached a new milestone for both Operation ATALANTA and the Spanish Armed Forces: 12.000 flight hours in the fight against piracy.

Spanish participation in EU NAVFOR Somalia Operation ATALANTA dates back to 2008. Under current command of Major Diego Gil, this achievement has been a true team effort by all men and women deployed in the detachment in Djibouti, the Operation Headquarters and multiple EU support elements.

This milestone demonstrates the commitment of all Operation ATALANTA’s contributing nations to safe navigation in the Western Indian Ocean. The multinational, counter-piracy operation is a story of success that has brought piracy-related events in the region down to an absolute minimum. This is significant, as just 8 years ago, over 200 piracy incidents occurred in just one year.