MREInfo.com

There is a New Spanish ration! For a long time, the Acquisitions branch of the army has been working on improving the Spanish rations, testing prototypes and trying to implement new technology while preserving the quality of the Spanish rations and the traditional food.
While the Racion de Combate have been pretty constant over decades, with only minor changes done to it, still the Ministry of Defence has been working in conjunction with companies like JOMIPSA to produce something better, although, reluctant to change...
But until now, all of them used heating systems based in solid fuel, examine stoves. These stoves, because of the fumes they release and the open flame the military deemed them unusable inside vehicles and other confined spaces, so unless the army planned on leaving tank operators, soldiers on transports and many people eating cold meals for the rest of their service , something had to be done... So a solution was thought to allow soldiers to have hot, propper meals during patrols and in vehicles.
And thus, the Ración de Efectivos en Desplazamiento (RED) was developed, a ration a lightweight and compact ration designed to fit the use case of operational teams where the use of the traditional heating systems is not feasible.
The RED is packed similar to the MRE for ease of transport and keeping it waterproof, this ration provides around 1.300kcal and its self-sufficient, it has a 2 year shelf life and the menus are tailored for cultural and religious preferences (halal and vegetarian) its packed in a polyethylene/polyester bag labeled with the army crest and the Menu sheet, contents, and BBD. Until now only two menus have been developed, more to come and quite possible, more to come and substitute the current Spanish racion de combate...
The menus have been designed keeping in mind the preferences of the FAS (Spanish armed forces) members and the guidelines of the army nutritionists
The menus come with two! (this is an 8h ration...) entrees in sterile plastic containers, similar to the ones in Portuguese rations I think, and designed to be used in combination with FRHs
Menu 1: Valencian paella and Meatballs with tomato sauce and peaches in syrup
Menu 2: Ravioli bolognese and beef stew with pears in syrup

My two cents on this:
To me this ration seems a step forward towards a renovation of the Spanish rations, for a long time there have been hints of a future change in the rations, a redesign of the Racion individual de combate, with JOMIPSA being able to provide tailored rations to the Spanish army and with better technology than the current ones its a change in my opinion about to happen, and this new ration is only the ''top of the iceberg'' . FRH have been included in some UME rations, as well as freeze dried food...
So my thoughts are that this ration, more than solving the issue of heating meals on transport its a ''market test'' to develop the next generation of Spanish rations, ditching the cans, and introducing newer recipes like the paella that I'm completely sure people are going to love or more international food like the raviolis, and a vegetarian/vegan option...

I'll keep the post updated when i have more information! Also i'm trying to get some of these like mad but so far none of the guys i know in the army has even seen one...

So are they still testing waters with this ration ? or is it being issued to soldiers already?

It is a current ration now, issued to soldiers for patrolling, transports and some other usecases, but my thoughts are that what they are doing with this new ration is watching if its well accepted, what issues has etc, what soldiers like and dont etc... To use that knowlegde then to make the next generation of rations

In short: yes, its currently issued to soldiers on duty