The Government has just signed a new bilateral agreement with the United States for the deployment of two new US Navy ships at the Rota Naval Base. This new agreement comes on the eve of Pedro Sánchez’s visit to the White House on Friday 12 May, where he will meet with President Joe Biden.
It was the Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles, who signed the agreement together with the US Ambassador to Spain, Julissa Reynoso, on behalf of the respective governments. The first of these new vessels will arrive in 2024.
The two countries are thus extending the detachment to the south of the peninsula, with a view to both the Mediterranean and NATO’s southern flank.
The agreement allows the authorisation to station at Rota to be extended from four to six ships, without modifying either the missions or the types of forces or maximum force levels of both civilian personnel and US military personnel currently authorised for the base under the Defence Cooperation Agreement, which remains in full force and effect.
