Major General Manuel Pérez López was born in Cádiz (Andalucia, España) in 1966.
He joined the General Military Academy in 1985. During his professional service, he has been serving in Special Operations Forces and Headquarters for twenty years. He has also spent seven years in Spanish Legion Units. Moreover, he has stayed about fourteen years in a variety of General Staff positions and Light Infantry units. Overall, his time exercising direct command of forces is well over fifteen years.
He received his commission as an Infantry First Lieutenant at the General Military Academy of Zaragoza in 1990 and was assigned to the Tercio «Duque de Alba», Second Regiment of the Spanish Legion, in Ceuta, as a Platoon Leader for two years. In 1992 he was assigned to the Tercio “Alejandro Farnesio”, 4th Regiment of the Legion, in the Special Operations Battalion (BOEL) in Ronda (Malaga). After his promotion to Captain in 1995, he served first in the Mountain Forces Regiment «Tercio Viejo de Sicilia» No. 67 in Guipuzcoa province, and later served back in the BOEL until his promotion to the rank of Major in 2001, being then assigned to the Light Infantry Regiment “Soria” No. 9 in Fuerteventura.
In 2003, after his graduation at the Joint General Staff College, he was posted as staff officer to the Headquarters of the Special Operations Command (MOE) in Alicante, where he was successively Head of the Operations, Plans and Personnel Sections of the General Staff.
In 2010 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and was appointed Chief of Staff of MOE, a position he combined with the command of the Joint Combined Staff of the Special Operations Component Command NRF 12 during the years 2011 and 2012. In 2013, he was assigned to the NATO Special Operations Headquarters (NSHQ) in Belgium, as J35 analyst, occupying the last year of this assignment the position of “J3 Director”.
In 2016 he was assigned to the Plans Division of the Army General Staff in Madrid, serving in the Army Transformation Center (CENTRA) and assuming its command after being promoted to Colonel in 2017, when he was designated as Commanding Officer of the Infantry Regiment “Príncipe” nº 3 (founded in 1537) located in Siero (Asturias), in parallel with the position of Military Commander of Asturias.
After a brief stint in the Operational Logistics Force in La Coruña, in 2020 he was promoted to Brigadier General and appointed as Commandant of the General Military Academy of Zaragoza, position that he occupied for four years. This was his previous assignment before assuming his duties as Deputy Chief of Staff Strategic Enablement of Supreme Allied Powers Europe (DCOS Support) on 31 July 2024.
Major General Pérez López’s overseas deployments include two tours in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the structure of units under UN and NATO flags, and another two in Afghanistan, firstly in the area of Plans of the RC WEST in Herat and secondly assigned by the NSHQ (current SOFCOM) to the Headquarters of the Special Operations Command of the coalition in Kabul.
Major General Pérez López is a Joint General Staff College graduate and is qualified for commanding both Special Operations Forces and Airborne Units, being also specialist in Physical Training.
He is married to Patricia and has daughter and son, Fabiola and Rodrigo.
Current as of August 2024