Technician Specialist in Deactivation of Explosive Artifacts (), commonly known by its abbreviation TEDAX, is the Spanish name for

bomb disposal Bomb disposal is an explosives engineering profession using the process by which hazardous explosive devices are disabled or otherwise rendered safe. ''Bomb disposal'' is an all-encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated fun ...

units. Many TEDAX groups exist in Spain, most of them in the police corps but also in the

Armed Forces A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a ...

(but they changed their name in 2001). Since 2001, these units of the Armed Forces are not named TEDAX because they are adapted to the international standards of EOD (''Explosive Ordnance Disposal'') due to the entry of Spain in

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. Other reason to change the name was because of these groups are also specialized on

unexploded ordnance Unexploded ordnance (UXO, sometimes abbreviated as UO) and unexploded bombs (UXBs) are explosive weapons (bombs, shell (projectile), shells, grenades, land mines, naval mines, cluster munition, and other Ammunition, munitions) that did not e ...

. The TEDAX of the

law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

and the EODs of the Armed Forces have become a key element in the fight against terrorism, each in its area of competence. For the performance of their function they have the support of high technology of specific design, like specialized robots, special suits of high protection against explosion, etc. In Spain there are TEDAX units in the Civil Guard, in the

National Police Corps The National Police Corps (, CNP; ; also known simply as the National Police, ) is the national civilian police, police force of Spain. The CNP is mainly responsible for policing urban areas, whilst rural policing is generally the responsibil ...

and in some Autonomous Police (like

Mossos d'Esquadra The ''Mossos d'Esquadra'' (; ), also known as the ''Policia de la Generalitat de Catalunya'' and informally as ''Mossos'', is the State police#Spain, regional police force in the autonomous community of Catalonia. They trace their origins back ...

Ertzaintza The (, or ''People's Guard'') is the autonomous police force for the Basque Country, largely replacing the Spanish Policía Nacional (National Police) and Guardia Civil (Civil Guard). An Ertzaintza member is called an ''ertzaina'' (). ...

), and there are EOD Units in the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, in the

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

and in the

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

. The TEDAX units were created in the 1970s and they were fundamental to the fight against the terrorist group

ETA Eta ( ; uppercase , lowercase ; ''ē̂ta'' or ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel, . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative, , in most dialects of Ancient Greek, it ...

and in the

2004 Madrid train bombings The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spain as 11M) were a series of coordinated, nearly simultaneous bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain, on the morning of 11 March 2004—three days before Spain's ...

. Outside the national territory, EOD units have become essential parts of the international operations carried out by the

Spanish Armed Forces The Spanish Armed Forces are in charge of guaranteeing the sovereignty and independence of the Spain, Kingdom of Spain, defending its territorial integrity and the constitutional order, according to the functions entrusted to them by the Spanish ...

around the world, in areas where the threat of artifacts and ammunition is very high. These units are also specialized in

CBRN defense Chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense (CBRN defense) or Nuclear, biological, and chemical protection (NBC protection) is a class of protective measures taken in situations where chemical warfare, chemical, biological warfar ...

. The first victim of the TEDAX police units, Rafael Valdenebro Sotelo, died in 1978 when he tried to deactivate an explosive device attributed to the Canary Islands Independence Movement. Many other victims of the police units were killed trying to defuse ETA bombs. In the Armed Forces, the first victim was

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Fernando Álvarez Rodríguez, died in 1993 in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

. File:Coat of Arms of the Guardia Civil Explosive Artifacts Defuser and CBRN Defense Service.svg, Emblem of the TEDAX of the Civil Guard File:Emblem of the Spanish National Police Corps Explosive Artifacts Defuser and CBRN Central Unit.svg, Emblem of the TEDAX-NRBQ of the

File:Tedax 1975 escudo.png, Emblem of the TEDAX of the Armed Police Corps (Dissolved)

References

{{Authority control Emergency services in Spain National law enforcement agencies of Spain